MARYHILL and Springburn is one of three seats in Glasgow Labour is fighting to keep hold of.

Stretching from Kelvindale in the west to Provanmill in the east and from the Antonine Wall in the north to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas in the south it has been Labour at every Holyrood election since 1999 when Maryhill and Springburn were separate constituencies.

The seat takes in Kelvinside, Gilshochill, Cadder, Ruchill, Lambhill, Milton, Sighthill, Royston and Germiston.

It includes some pockets of affluence in Kelvinside and Kelvindale but is made up mostly of former traditional working class communities.

The constituency, in the north of the city, historically was home to some of the city’s biggest employers providing work for thousands like St Rollox ‘Caley’ rail works in Springburn, MacFarlane’s Saracen foundry, McLellan’s Rubber and Bryant and May matches in Ruchill.

Now unemployment levels, Disability Living Allowance rates and poverty are among the highest in Scotland.

Maryhill and Springburn has the highest Job Seekers Allowance rate in Glasgow at 3.7%, almost 1800 actively seeking work.

The constituency features many communities suffering the highest levels of deprivation.

In the middle of the constituency between Maryhill and Springburn is statistically the second most deprived community in Scotland, Possilpark.

It is an area which as a result of social problems, many community initiatives have developed to help people cope, but now they too are under pressure.

In Possilpark volunteers at the Cook n Care charity see the impact first hand.

Melanie Fyfe, co-ordinator, said there is a lot of good community work going on in the area but even that is under threat.

She said: “The biggest problem is money. We are all fighting for the same money and fighting to stay open.

“The council helped us to say open a couple of years ago but it is difficult.”

A majority of houses in Maryhill and Springburn are rented, 52% compared to the Scottish average of 11% and home ownership is lower at 37% to Scotland’s 62%.

In Springburn, the North Glasgow Community Food Initiative, said demand for the service has increased and volunteers are working ever harder to help improve the communities.

Greg Sandilands, project manager, on behalf of the group said: “Our biggest single concern is that increasingly people do not have enough money to buy their weekly shop, including fresh fruit and veg.

“It is well known that poor diets can be major cause of future long term ill health.

“We are also aware that many residents rarely go out as they cannot afford the cost of doing things many take for granted. This makes worse conditions such as depression and stress.

“Our staff do struggle to keep up with demand and of course fundraising to support service delivery is a challenge too, but it is heartening to see the passion and ideas of our volunteers to make their communities better places. “

The key contest is between the incumbent, Labour’s Patricia Ferguson and SNP’s Bob Doris.

Ms Ferguson an ever-present at Holyrood since 1999, has introduced several bills at the parliament, including on factors and Fatal Accident Inquiries, and has been a minister and deputy presiding officer.

Mr Doris, a list MSP since 2007 has held post of deputy convener of the Health committee.

Ms Ferguson said: “I worked with residents to secure a future for Maryhill’s train line and continued to fight with them for better bus services, argued for a town centre regeneration fund. I introduced legislation to give property owners a better deal from their factors and worked with communities across the constituency to deliver regeneration.

“I will bring forward a member’s bill to regulate bus services. I want to fight for regeneration across the constituency, including some of the 60,000 new homes Labour is committed to building and amenities, like better shopping and community facilities.”

Mr Doris said: “I promised local kinship carers that I would fight for greater financial support for them, something I have been successful in achieving. I also backed local families when Labour axed their school buses and we won the fight to have them reinstated

“If elected I will play my part in bringing much needed additional quality social housing to the area as part of our SNP Government's commitment to deliver 50,000 new affordable homes. I will also campaign to better connect our communities with enhanced transport links.”

Candidates

John Anderson (Con)

Bob Doris (SNP)

Patricia Ferguson (Labour)

James Harrison (LibDem)

2011 election results

Candidate party Votes %

Patricia Ferguson (Lab) 9884 48.1

Bob Doris (SNP) 8592 41.8

Stephanie Murray (CON) 1222 6.0

Sophie Bridger (LibDem) 833 4.1