Updated 14.00 Monday 7th December – see below – on the matter of the meeting which led to Councillor Philand’s action and providing an up to date picture of present Councillors’ political affiliations.

Argyll now knows that principle is still a matter which can occasionally govern the actions of its elected Councillors.

In a rare move, Mid Argyll Councillor, Dougie Philand, has resigned from the Alliance of Independent Councillors led by Council Leader, Dick Walsh.

Councillor Philand is widely recognised as one of the brightest and most refreshingly straightforward talents to be elected to the local authority for some time. This action underlines his essential integrity and his defence of his given responsibilities within the Councl.

In his letter of resignation from the group, Councillor Philand says:

‘Dick – it is with regret that I tender my resignation from the Alliance of Independents group.

‘Following our meeting on Friday I have had time to reflect on the Mid Argyll pool issue and find that I am not in a position to agree with the administration and yourself on this issue and therefore will resign.

‘I felt that the decision was already made before I walked into the meeting, hence my decision.

‘This obviously includes the position of Depute Spokesperson for Arts Culture and Leisure; my position on the Executive Committee and also my Chair of Organisational Development with immediate effect.

‘I would not wish to meet up to discuss further regarding my resignation.

‘I thank you for your assistance during this 2.5 years in office and hope that we can continue to work together, all be it in a different capacity for the residents of Argyll and Bute.

‘Would you mind confirming with me if my membership of Museums & Galleries Scotland, Highland and Islands Film Commission and Scotland Excel represents the council as a whole and not the coalition in order for me to know if I can still attend them or not?’

The action to which Councilor Philand has been driven raises two issues:

• the integrity of the process through which the Council has approached the position of the Mid Argyll Swimming Pool: this is overtly what has concerned Councillor Philand to the point of resignation from the Alliance of Independent Councillors (to which not all Independent Councillors belong);
• the balance of power in the Council itself, until now shared equally between the Alliance of Independent Councillors and the Scottish National Party.

There will be widespread respect and sympathy for Dougie Philand in this matter. As a Councillor in his first term, this is not an action he would have taken lightly and it will have been the result of a very real personal upheaval.

His constituents will now see clearly that they can trust him to represent them fairly and without vested interest. This stance redeems politics in the public consciousness..

The hard-working Mid Argyll Swimming Pool Board and its unsung staff will see that their worries about the objectivity with which their case was being considered were real enough.

If the Council persists in its stance on the crisis-ridden Swimming Pool in the face of Councillor Philands’s public questioning of its openness and transparency, what credibility it has left on the matter will be threadbare.

And what we do not yet know is just what the decision taken on Friday on the Mid Argyll Pool actually was – the decision that Councillor Philand felt had been taken before the meeting began. We have now asked the Council for this information.

Update 7th December: Friday meeting that led to Councillor Philand’s resignation

We have now had a response from the Council to our query on the decision taken at the meeting on Friday which led, consequently, to the resignation of Councillor Philand. The Council statement is as follows:

‘The meeting on Friday was to explore what further could be done to help the Mid Argyll swimming pool reach a sustainable position. This was an open discussion during which no decisions were taken.

‘One of the possibilities we raised was that the Council continues the acceleration of its funding to the swimming pool, paying approximately £12,000 of next year’s money in the current financial year. This would allow time for the pool’s new business model to bed in and external funding options to be maximised – enabling the pool to continue on a sound financial basis’.

We do not know what, specifically, Councillor Philand felt had been determined in advance of the meeting but in the light of this statement it can have been only one thing – the proposal to continue advance payments to the Swimming Pool.

Whether or not this was the move which Councillor Philand objected to on the grounds of democracy, we feel that this is fundamentally an unhelpful and ill-advised strategy. It can do no other than pour away funds inadequate to the job to be done while addressing nothing.

Throwing piddling sums of money into the situation  – as advances – cannot address the Pool’s debt while enabling it to operate on a sound foundation. And without assurances of financial stablity, external funding cannot be granted.

Modest sums paid now as advances against already inadequate future funding simply leave the Pool exposed to a prolonged collapse rather than a quick one. Moreover such sums waste public money the Council could deploy effectively elsewhere.

This is a shallow and wasteful face-saving exercise. Its sheer unintelligence demonstrates that it is not designed to support the survival of this important resource for the health of a large area of Argyll.

It is designed simply, after the death, to give the council a cheap way of saying it did its best. Sorry, The electorate is not so stupid. Must do better.

The political composition of the current Council

We understand that Councillor Philand’s resignation will not affect the current balance of power within the Council. Because of erratic and incomplete information on the Councillors as published on the Council website, we were unable to establish the situation in advance of a statement. However, we have  now obtained from the Council’s Press Office a certified list of the political affiliations of current Councillors. Here it is:

Alliance of Independent Councillors (15)

• Vivien Dance
• Mary-Jean Devon
• George Freeman
• Daniel Kelly
• Duncan MacIntyre
• Neil Mackay
• Donald MacMillan
• John McAlpine
• Alex McNaughton
• James McQueen
• Bruce Marshall
• Billy Petrie
• Elaine Robertson
• Len Scoullar
• Dick Walsh

Scottish National Party Group (10)

• Anne Horn
• Alister MacAlister
• Donald MacDonald
• Roddy McCuish
• Donald McIntosh
• Robert MacIntyre
• James Robb
• John Semple
• Ron Simon
• Isobel Strong

Liberal Democrats Group (6)

• Rory Colville
• Robin Currie
• Alison Hay
• Ellen Morton
• Andrew Nisbet
• Al Reay

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Group (3)

• Donald Kelly
• David Kinniburgh
• Gary Mulvaney

Other Councillors (not members of any political group)

• Gordon Chalmers
• Douglas Philand (this is the case until it Councillor Philand’s intentions are known)

Related Posts

• Conservatives sprinkle the Goldie dust on Argyll – but are they a team? (11)
• Meeting of minds on Mid Argyll Swimming Pool (3)
• Mather to meet Board of Mid Argyll Swimming Pool as Council pulls the plug (4)
• Council Leader offers to facilitate discussion on Tour of Mull Rally as 2300 Club provide Q&As (0)
• Mike Mackenzie on the Mid Argyll Pool situation (11)

---

The Latest News from ForArgyll delivered via email, weekly or daily. You know it makes sense!

---

Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping | | Print This Post