Build communities, not just more houses

Having watched both parts of 'Billy Connolly: Made In Scotland', I can assure The Big Yin that it didn't depress me in the slightest.

On the contrary, he was inspirational - funny, honest, witty, intelligent, multi-talented, multi-layered and insightful.  His perceptiveness remains undiminished, and reminiscing about his Glasgow childhood revealed points which still have resonance today should people care to listen.

He discussed the importance of libraries, particularly to working class kids, and said "The Library is the key, all the knowledge in the world is there.  Books are your ticket to the whole world, a free ticket to the entire earth."

He also discussed being relocated to the new housing estate at Drumchapel, along with tens of thousands of other Glaswegians.  Of this he observed:

"Drumchapel had indoor plumbing, problem was we had f*** all else.  No amenities.  It was a crime to move thousands of people to a housing estate with no cinemas, no theatres, no cafés, no shops, no churches, no schools, just houses.

"Even as a boy I knew cafés, cinemas, community were the key to a sane life.  If a place has none of those things a dullness descends, a kind of anger develops, and if you have no way of articulating that anger you just lash out."

How often, particularly around here, do we hear about yet another planning application for hundreds, even thousands of homes?

And how often are shops, community centres, cafés, schools, nurseries, medical facilities or churches built simultaneously to accompany those houses?

Priors Hall Park is to finally get its own shop - a Sainsbury's Local - many years after its first residents moved in.

Why can't all councils make it a condition that if developers want to build more houses, they have to ensure that the infrastructure and ancillary facilities are first in place? 

Improve the access roads, make cycle-ways and well-lit footpaths, build community parks, centres and facilities before, or at least at the same time as, the houses are constructed.  Otherwise it's cruel to move people in and not ensure they have decent community facilities necessary for a sane life.