Councillor Donald Macdonald of Oban North and Lorn has been concerned that the original news release issued by the council’s Communications Manager ‘ may have inadvertently given the false impression that these decisions on School Closure Consultation were all taken unanimously’.
Noting that this was far from the case, he was interested to ensure that ‘those voices raised in protest against the decisions made by the Councillors in the current ruling Administration are heard’.
In a situation like that obtaining in Argyll and Bute Council, where there are marked, even bitter, divisions between the ruling coalition and the opposition, there is increasing concern amongst opposition councillors that they should not, undeservedly, be branded with the stamp of an administration with which they significantly disagree.
Councillor Macdonald wants to see clear accounts of the voting positions between administration and opposition.
This is what he has said to the council’s Communications Manager.
‘Just to raise a few concerns about the terminology you have used in this News Release. Many Councillors did not vote for these Closure Consultations and I would be grateful if you could amend the News Release accordingly.
‘This could be by inserting ‘by a majority’ after ‘voted’ in the first line and by similar alterations where the term “councillors” is used after the listing of proposals – where sentences around the Minard and Achaleven Closure proposals are detailed.
‘In addition, as a Councillor I did not prefer either of the options mentioned and voted against them along with many other Councillors. The wording here also requires to be adjusted and I would be grateful if you could correct as appropriate.
‘I would not wish anyone reading this News Release to be given a false impression that I – along with many of my fellow Councillors – had supported these Closure Consultation proposals.
‘Many of us are opposed to this action on the part of the Council Administration and it is only right and proper that people in our fragile rural communities are aware that they do have support from many Councillors in Argyll & Bute.
‘This note has been copied to my colleagues in the Opposition as I am sure many of them will share my concerns on these matters’.
For Argyll has certainly been aware of public confusion on this matter, with a heavy mailbox asking how individual councillors voting and also asking if they all voted as one.
The heart of this issue has been raised before.
Other local authorities publish the voting of individual councillors as a matter of course.
In the unevolved Argyll and Bute, they prefer the public to remain ignorant of information they have a right to have.
The concerns expressed by Councillor Macdonald would instantly be allayed if Argyll and Bute Council routinely published voting details.
Was there a roll-call vote for each school? If so, the full voting record of each councillor should be published in the official minute of the meeting in due course.
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I assumed that there would be a list with the voters for/against. It will make interesting reading.
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Yes, there was a roll call for each.
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So whur is it?
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I looks like we will have to get the voting information through a Freedom of Information request.
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For Hughie: Sorry. It’s now linked in the text.
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For Treblet: On voting: we understand that every one of the councillors who are members of the groups forming the ruling coalition – the Alliance of Independent Councillors, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives voted to a prior agreement. They voted to remove Ashfield School from the closure list and to send all of the other schools to consultation on their closure.
These councillors were:
Rory Colville (LibDem)
Robin Currie (LibDem)
Vivien Dance (Alliance)
Mary Jean Devon (Alliance)
Alison Hay (LibDem) (left before vote on Minard, her local school, and will not have voted on any motions after that
Daniel Kelly (Alliance)
David Kinniburgh (Conservative)
Duncan Macintyre (Alliance)
Neil Mackay (Alliance)
Donnie Macmillan (Alliance)
Bruce Marshall (Alliance)
Alex McNaughton (Alliance)
James McQueen (Alliance)
Ellen Morton (LibDem)
Gary Mulvaney (Conservative)
Andrew Nisbet (LibDem
William Petrie (Alliance)
Elaine Robertson (Alliance)
Len Scoullar (Alliance)
Al Reay (LibDem)
Council Leader Dick Walsh (Alliance) is still on sick leave.
We are working to establish whether or not all of the other (opposition) councillors voted as one against each of the closure proposals.
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How the likes of Elaine Robertson who’s work has been so deeply involved with the communities of North Lorn over the past years as a councillor as well as many more before that in her previous life can vote this way just baffles me completely.
It is not as if she has anything to lose as she is retiring next year.
Our other two mainland ones are power hungry so their behaviour is, sadly, to be expected.
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The baffling thing for many people is that they elected ‘independent’ councillors on the basis that they would be just that: able to think, debate and vote according to their understanding of local circumstances and their consciences. Instead they are, with a small number of honourable and consistent exceptions, acting like a more tightly-whipped group than would be seen in most political parties. They appear willing to blindly believe every line fed to them by a few senior ‘party’ individuals, and every hectoring lecture given to them by officers, and to disregard the views and evidence being provided by everyone else from parents, community representitives and SRSN through to senior parliamentarians.
Their overall majority is so slim that all it would take is for a very small number of them to take the initiative and say ‘enough is enough’, and at a stroke force the council to turn the situation round and start to address this vital issue in a positive and constructive way. How much longer are we going to have to wait?
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Tim
I presume your reference to ‘honourable exceptions’ is a reference to independents not in the administration. None of those in the administration merit that badge.
Devon and MacNaughton made a token effort in November but were rapidly persuaded to fall into line.
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Was Devon not previously exposed as a turncoat, not long after being elected. as I have said before with the old guard in the admin at least you know what to expect, but the ones who have been bought, in my opinion are a damn siight worse. If someone has a fixed view on how they feel is the way forward, that is one thing, but for those who have obviously been bribed with power and cash, then they will feel the wrath of the electorate first. I say this in relation to any issue, not just the important schools/community situation.
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Very disapointed in mary jean and alex, who are held in the same reverence as mackay, scoular , marshall….
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What we are seeing yet again is the line that this is ‘only a consultation’. It would be more to the point to say ‘yet another consultation (groan)’. The councillors have had six months of de-facto consultation during which a huge amount of information has been produced and presented to them, and pre-consultation meetings at which they all had the opportunity to see at first hand how weak the supposed educational case is (most of the QIOs were unable or unwilling to defend them in public), and the impact that closing these schools will have on rural Argyll & Bute. If they still believe, after all that, that it’s time to start another statutory consultation, it can only be because they have already made their minds up that all the schools should close – what more is there to learn?
Also, although the number of schools still up for closure is down by half on the original list, the financial savings look to be down by three-quarters. Such savings as will be shown will once again come entirely from reducing teaching posts, as any property savings will be swallowed up by transport & GAE costs. Any councillors who accept that the educational benefit claims are mince but still believe that there are useful cuts to be made in the education budget might like to ponder those facts.
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If you do a bit of checking, in the TESS article about the closures, Cllr Morton was quoted as saying the savings will save £500,000.
She is in the Herald today saying £400,000
But if you add up all the current closures, the amount is just under £300,000
See that dodgy council calculator hasn’t been replaced
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I hope that Councillor Morton manages to get her expenses claims correct!
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