Westminster View - New constituency office to open up access
Those travelling in and around Forfar over the last two years will have noticed some changes to a landmark building at the West Port, the building we all know locally as Haqs, writes Dave Doogan MP.
Since my election as your MP for Angus and Perthshire I have worked to get a lease on this building and convert it into a dedicated local constituency office accessible to as many constituents as possible.
This ambition has turned out to be a two-year mammoth project but I am pleased to report, as you may have seen, we are finally almost finished.
This building was looking very sorry for itself, having stood empty for many years, so I have worked with the landlord and his agents to get the fundamentals addressed inside and out to allow me to convert the ‘blank canvas’ of this closed down newsagents into a modern and welcoming constituency office.
Windows have been fixed or replaced, floors have been renewed, walls have gone up while other walls have come down. The property has been rewired and gas installed with a new central heating system and interior fixtures and fittings.
We have painted it inside and out and now only have a few elements to finish off. I hope you agree that this small corner of Angus looks much better for having the lights back on and a fresh façade.
Forfar is the central location within Angus & Perthshire Glens constituency, not geographically but certainly in terms of population. Forfar is the biggest population centre in the constituency with Montrose, the second largest, lying 18 miles to the northeast and Blairgowrie and Rattray, the third largest just 20 miles to the southwest.
Forfar is also readily accessible to constituents in Brechin, Kirrie, Sidlaw and East Perthshire towns like Coupar Angus and Alyth.
I firmly believe a constituency office is a vital element of representative parliamentary democracy, even if, for some, they seem old fashioned.
Much of the service I provide is by email or face-to-face at my constituency surgeries, which visit every corner of this vast part of Scotland. But for me, a parliamentarian needs a base, and I’m delighted to see my colleagues Lloyd Melville MSP and Lara Bird MP, who will both have offices on Arbroath High Street very soon, agree.