Falkirk Council election: The issues affecting Grangemouth and the candidates who believe they can fix them

The town has some of the highest levels of poverty in Falkirk, leading to poor health for too many residents, particularly in the Bowhouse and Kersiebank areas.

The area has been blighted by anti-social behaviour, with drugs and alcohol causing major problems. There are also issues with housing, in particular the high number of flats which makes it difficult to attract families to live there and become part of the community.

But Grangemouth also contains major industries of critical national importance – including an oil refinery and major port – which has helped it attract major funding as part of the Growth Deal, announced last year.

After an extensive community consultation pre-Covid, residents think it’s time to see real change and several very active community groups are working hard to help make Grangemouth better.

Change can already be seen in Zetland Park which has been transformed and Inchyra Park – both of which have been given cash by the council’s new Community Choices fund.

There are eight candidates vying for votes in the ward ahead of the council elections on May 5, hoping to claim one of three seats and represent the ward for the next five years.

Who won in 2017?

David Balfour, Scottish National Party, 1510 votes Allyson Black, Scottish Labour Party, 1301 votes Robert Spears, Independent, 980 votes

The background

There will be at least one change to the councillors as the long-serving Labour councillor, Allyson Black, stood down this year. In her place, the party has selected another experienced councillor, Alan Nimmo, who lives in Grangemouth but has until now represented the Lower Braes.

The SNP’s David Balfour, who was first elected in 2012 and topped the poll in 2017, is also standing again and this time his party colleague John Haston – a volunteer with Kersiebank Community Project – hopes he will be elected too.

Conservative Mandy Bryson hopes to secure victory for the party after a close miss in 2017, when James Bundy got the third highest number of first preference votes. However, he did not pick up enough second preferences to take him over the finishing line.

Instead, it was the second, third, fourth and even fifth preference votes that proved crucial in giving Independent councillor Robert Spears another election win. Grangemouth is one of the few wards to have consistently elected an Independent and Mr Spears is standing once again. Although Independent he has been a member of the SNP minority administration for the past five years.

Who can I vote for?

Grangemouth (Ward 2) – three councillors to be elected

David Balfour, Scottish National Party;

Marc Bozza, Independent;

Mandy Bryson, Scottish Conservative and Unionist;

John Haston. Scottish National Party (SNP);

Stuart Martin, UKIP;

Alan Nimmo, Scottish Labour Party;

Robert Spears, Independent;

Rhys Stenhouse, Scottish Green Party