LAST Thursday the meeting of the City Administration Committee ended with all parties coming together to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We also resolved to suspend our twinning arrangement with Rostov-on-Don.

We were right to do so and events of the last week have emphasised the need for us all to play whatever small part we can to stand in solidarity and unwavering support for the people of Ukraine.

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Before moving on to some of the more parochial issues discussed at the same meeting, I will say this: While people are dying on the streets of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, while families are fleeing can we all remember that this is about Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It is not about us.

To those idiots, on either side of the Scottish constitutional debate, who seem determined to make tortured comparisons to Scotland and our current situation; do us all a favour, kindly shut up!

And so to the more parochial matters. Earlier in the same meeting we discussed and approved a paper on the Place Based Investment Programme. A pot of money available to GCC over the next two years of almost £7 million. These funds are intended to assist in town centre regeneration, community wealth building, achieving net-zero and other mostly laudable objectives.

Various projects across the city were awarded funding ranging from about £70,000 to almost £1m. Almost 50% was awarded to a single project. Over the two years, £3.35m will go to support the redevelopment of The Braes shopping centre in Castlemilk.

As the councillor for Castlemilk, I am happy to grab every single penny.

We were also advised that, at long last, a major supermarket is planning to open an outlet in Castlemilk.

Castlemilk has been without a major supermarket for several years since the Co-op closed their doors.

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The Braes has suffered years of decline and neglect under distant and disinterested owners. Community representatives and some of the remaining independent traders within the shopping centre have been campaigning for years to bring back a viable and vibrant retail facility to one of Glasgow’s largest communities.

A community that still has very significant levels of poverty, low car ownership and all the other issues often associated with peripheral housing estates.

The Braes was bought by the Scotsman Group, formerly G1, literally days before the Covid pandemic hit us. The owners have shared some of their plans and proposals with the community. But we have been here before, only to be disappointed as previous owners or potential developers abandon their plans and leave Castlemilk.

So while the investment of over £3m is hugely welcomed, there is still an air of inevitable caution. Who is the “big supermarket” that is now willing to invest? What are the detailed plans and timescales for the redevelopment of The Braes? What is the council and, more importantly, the community going to get for such a huge investment of public money?

These questions and more have still to be answered. Castlemilk and other areas of Glasgow, such as Easterhouse, desperately need the full range of services and facilities that communities of their size urgently require. The Scottish Government and the Council speak of 20-minute neighbourhoods.

Currently, you would wait at least that long for a bus to get out of Castlemilk and on the road to the nearest supermarket.

Returning to where I started. I know the people of Castlemilk, indeed all of Glasgow, will join me in saying: Slava Ukraini!