We understand from several insider sources that the meeting of the administration today was chaotic and conflictual, with some unreconstructed predators pushing furiously – and we mean furiously – for continuing with the closure process now in train.
They did vote to carry on with the process to close the listed schools.
As Councillor Freeman had earlier intimated, Councillor Currie from Islay did not attend. This may show a personal survival instinct but it is not to his credit. He demolished that credit comprehensively when he changed his vote at the crucial meeting on 25th November 2010. On that occasion he and Councillor Colville could singlehandedly have stopped the entire process in disarray – if they had voted with their consciences and not with their eyes on personal prizes.
If Councillor Currie had the slightest trace of honour, it was open to him to turn up today and vote against. As usual, he took the easy way – for himself.
Five councillors, as Councillor Freeman has posted on the ‘ARSN tanks on the lawn‘ story – voted against and two abstained.
But we also understand that there was a later move to explore a safer course and that Council Leader Dick Walsh – unsurprisingly a hard liner – has been tasked with talking to other councils to see what they are going to do over the moratorium and reporting back.
If the general move is to go with the Education Secretary’s request for a moratorium, Argyll and Bute may do the same.
This means that, as things stand, the special meeting may recommend according to the vote or recommend according to the findings of Councillor Walsh’s trawl around the other councils, seeking the shelter of a communal position.
It is most important now that the five who are deeply unhappy should come to understand how important it is in humanitarian terms if no other, to agree to a moratorium and not to persist in putting this intolerable strain on parents and children.
One would hope that political awareness of the brutally losing battle they are facing would also be a factor.
One or two with a sprinkling of little grey cells might belatedly understand that the Morton-Sneddon proposals are no better in law and in security of evidence than the unsound solo Sneddon effort abandoned on 5th January 2011. They cannot ultimately succeed – whatever the council do now.
It is beyond time to put a stop to what is fully mad and has arguably been the most disgraceful episode in the history of the Argyll and Bute Council.
Amusingly – and after what he has been through, Councillor Freeman deserves the fun – Councillor Dance is said to have been fully hysterical in a obsession with who is talking to Councilor Freeman and possibly the media direct.
We would add that the administration is cracking so badly that sources are multiple rather than singular- and some would be of considerable surprise.
The details
With the chaos in the hothouse, this is the best picture we’re getting but several sources confirm the basic facts.
Voting against were, in alphabetical order:
- Mary Jean Devon (Alliance) (hugely reassuring to see her back on a sane and responsible line on this)
- Neil MacKay (Alliance) (dithered but finally voted against – personal survival well to the fore)
- Alex MacNaughton (Alliance) (again good to see a man of basic integrity remembering who he is)
- Elaine Robertson (Alliance) (who has all along been honourably consistent and open in her views on the closures, whether or not one agreed – and voted with humanity and political nous)
- William Petrie (Alliance) (another political realist who at last came good on all the promises he has made and broken).
If these councillors change their vote at a special meeting they will have absolutely nowhere to go. They have at least shown that as human beings they have some compassion for the suffering the council has unnecessarily inflicted on Argyll folk and rural communities on the basis of unsound propositions.
We note that not a single one of the politicals voted against.
- All 5 LibDems present voted to continue (Councillor Currie at home with his toys still in the pram)
- The one Tories present voted to continue. The other, we understand from Councillor Freeman’s comment below, Councillor Gary Mulvaney, stayed away. It wold be good to think that this was the start pf a distancing form this provenly wrong process. Gary Mulvaney is one of the most able in the chamber. So far he has acted on the autopilot mantra – ‘traditional Tory policy is made on the bottom line’.
We hope to be able shortly to show him – and others – on hard financial evidence, that the bottom line and retaining rural schools, as Argyll demands, are actually one and the same thing. It’s been another case of incompetent council mathematics.
The abstentions were:
- Danny Kelly (Alliance) (too frightened of everything to go either way)
- Len Scoullar (Alliance) (the North Bute school case, proven so unsound by SRSN, has left him locally between a rock and a hard place)
The lunatics, way out ahead in the van and insisting on going ahead regardless, were, in what we understand to be the order of virulence:
- Duncan McIntyre (Alliance)
- Vivien Dance (Alliance)
- Dick Walsh (Alliance)
- Ellen Morton (LibDem)
- Bruce Marshall (Alliance)
- Rory Colville (LibDem)
And for the record – Councillor Donnie MacMillan of Mid Argyll vocally led the support from the troops though only four weeks ago he was also on the record as saying he hoped Michael Russell, then newly elected as Argyll and Bute’s MSP, would stop the school closures.
The votes for:
Logic dictates that those who did not vote against or abstain, voted to Carry on up the Khyber. They were:
- Rory Colville (LibDem)
- Vivien Dance (Alliance)
- Alison Hay (LibDem)
- David Kinniburgh (Conservative)
- Bruce Marshall (Alliance)
- Donnie MacMillan (Alliance)
- James MacQueen (Alliance)
- Duncan McIntyre (Alliance)
- Ellen Morton (LibDem)
- Andrew Nisbet (LibDem)
- Al Reay (LibDem)
- Dick Walsh (Alliance)
Whatever the council does over the moratorium, Argyll now knows where each individual councillor really stands. This was a meeting that began at the gate of the madhouse and ended on the inside.
The hope lies in the fact that some sanity obtained and that that not all committed themselves for certain treatment in May 2012 – and in the fact that if other more stable local authorities accept the Education Secretary’s proposition, Argyl and Bute may row along.
Newsroom, that’s entirely what I meant. If those five want a safe place to be so they can go to that special meeting and vote to ditch the closures, then I’m sure any ARSN member would do all they could to help achieve that.
Walsh’s day is coming to a close. He and his sidekick Morton have steered the Council into an iceberg and it’s the least we can do to offer lifebelts to those who see the deep, dark water approaching.
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This is lunacy far beyond mere mortal comprehension. As DDM asked earlier, “what on earth do these people think they are doing?”. They will not be allowed to push on regardless, so what they are doing is increasing the distress of school children, parents and communities.
The arrogance, stupidity and unkindness of this astounds me.
Bypass COSLA? Not enough to save schools.
Councils are demonstrating that they think of schools as nothing more than buildings which they can shut down and do what they want with, maybe sell off for a bit of ready cash in tough times. It is not unique to ABC, and not unique to one political alliance.
This all just goes to show that councils should not be trusted with such a precious resource. It makes the idea of removing responsibility for education from local authority control seem saner by the minute.
At the very least, if councils don’t accept this moratorium and have it forced on them instead, the 2010 Act is likely to get much tighter and they will find it much, much harder to close schools in the future.
I will be hoping with (almost) all my might that your elected representatives see sense, fall in with the moratorium and have a good long think before embarking on future consultations.
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Interested Outsider: You’re very polite – some of the councillors seem to consider small rural schools to be a nuisance, and ‘recalcitrant’ is the polite but inadequate term for their behaviour. Pride in the history of Scottish education is notably absent in some of them.
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Interested Outsider: you maybe interested to know that according to a response to an FOI regarding at least one school Argyll and Bute Council have had no ‘specific’ discussions about the buildings, most people who are now familiar with the workings this current group of bandits (Im less polite) wont believe this for an instant. Why close schools and go through the entire process if you havent taken into account the cost of keeping a school closed, unless it’s thought the will just board them up and file the keys somewhere – actually thats probably just what they think.
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Interested Outider – unfortunately an awful lot of our elected representatives cannot “see sense” even when its right before their eyes. And as you say continuing down this path is lunacy – career suicide for some councillors too surely??
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Interested outsider: You are quite correct: they will not be allowed to close any of these schools (other than the two empty ones). The Cabinet Secretary made it clear that he will enact emergency legislation if councils do not fall in line and Mr Russell both has the means (the SNP Parliamentary majority) and the temperament to do this if he needs to. Everyone else recognises that the process is dead. Even Alan Reid MP says it is dead. No occupied schools in Argyll or elsewhere are going to close. Why then are Argyll and Bute Council carrying on regardless as if nothing has happened?
I was incandescent yesterday over this latest example of political gaucheness by the Administration. Argyll and Bute will derive no benefit from foot dragging over this. The only effect is further distress to communities and children who have now had to put up with this for almost a year. As I type this I realise that I am still incandescent! I just cannot believe that certain councillors can really be so naive as to believe that dragging this process out will help them or the Council one whit. I am sure there will be pals of Cllr Walsh in COSLA who will be patting him on the back and telling him he is a decent sort for standing up to that bully Russell and how they will back him to the hilt (though quietly, in the background). But the rest of us (the real people) are just aghast at this stupidity.
It is difficult not to believe that some councillors are letting their egos overide their common sense. Perhaps there are also darker emotions in play. Rumours abound of school staff being told that the Council hates Mr Russell and Mr Sandy Longmuir and they want to get “one over” on them. Perhaps some people in the Council have forgotten all about the children as they pursue nasty little vendettas. And if any of them have the gall to suggest that children are their priority I would just remind them that no-one who seriously had the interests of children at heart would suggest closing their schools at Christmas.
Tonight we have the Ardchattan consultation charade. What a waste of time and money.
I’m going to chop some wood before I go to that meeting just to see if I can work of some of my deep anger at this shower of incompetents.
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It now appears that this is not the entire inside story as to what went on at Inveraray yesterday. From the information that pours in from various sources, the plot now appears to thicken. Questions now need to be asked as to how many meetings took place at Inveraray yesterday? From what we have been told, the following information does not appear to stack up if the ConDemAll members only held one meeting to which all their members were invited.
We are told that the ConDemAll meeting was planned to take place in the Argyll Hotel at Inveraray. The arrangements were to have lunch there at 12 noon with the meeting starting at 1.00 pm. This ties in with Councillor Anne Horn bumping into Councillor Jimmy McQueen in the town about 11.45/11.50 am. It also ties in with the travel arrangements for certain ConDemAll members which would get them to Inveraray in time for lunch at 12 noon.
When trying to sort out the meeting room for the ARSN meeting in the Loch Fyne Hotel at approximately 12 noon, we were told that the ConDemAll meeting had already started in the Loch Fyne Hotel at 10.00 am. We did wonder at the time why Councillor McQueen was in the town at that time if the ConDemAll meeting had started at the Loch Fyne Hotel two hours earlier?
We know that Councillors Neil Mackay and Duncan MacIntyre were in the Loch Fyne Hotel at approximately 12 noon as they looked into the ARSN meeting room at that time. They appeared to be heading out of the hotel which would tie in with them heading up to the Argyll Hotel for lunch prior to the ConDemAll meeting at 1.00 pm in the Argyll Hotel. There were certainly a number of cars owned by ConDemAll members in the large car park behind the Argyll Hotel during the afternoon.
The questions that then need to be asked are:
Did the ConDemAll members have two meetings yesterday as the information above would indicate?
If so, were all ConDemAll members invited to both meetings which certainly does not appear to be the case?
Was the earlier ConDemAll meeting in the Loch Fyne Hotel only for Councillor Dick Walsh and his inner circle?
If so, was the first meeting to discuss tactics (prior to the main meeting which was due to take place at 1.00 pm in the Argyll Hotel) on how they were going to ‘persuade’ the other ConDemAll members (who are not in Councillor Walsh’s inner circle) to agree with his proposal to reject the moratorium proposal that has been put forward by the Education Secretary?
Did the Chief Executive attend both ConDemAll meetings?
No doubt Councillor Walsh and his inner circle will argue that they were discussing other issues and that the schools issue never crossed their lips. Others may argue that those who were not invited to the first meeting were not trusted to toe the ‘party’ line on the proposed moratorium.
Either way, it certainly gives the impression of a two tier administration.
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Was yesterday’s meeting a political one?
If so the Chief Exec sureley should not have been there.
If the Chief Exec was there (was she?) then it was an official council meeting and and agenda/minutes should be available.
This is beginning to stink.
Honesty and transparency should be to the fore here. The council is not a private company. Whatever it does is done in the name of the people of Argyll and Bute.
Should the Public Standards Commissioner be contacted?
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Yesterday’s meeting appears to have been a political Group / Coalition meeting which is classed as a “politcal” meeting. All political groups within all councils hold such meetings. Nothing unusual in the Chief Executive or other officer attending such a meeting. This happens often to give councillors advice on various issues.
All political groups within councils do hold such meetings and there is nothing unusual or untoward in that. They normally issue their own agenda and minutes but these are for their own consumption / use. They are not public documents.
This is all covered within the appropriate local government act / legislation and I see nothing that the Standards Commission would be interested in.
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LOL! You have to forgive us George for wondering. They’re so often in contempt of the law that it seems unlikely that anything they do falls within mere rules.
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Thanks Cllr Freeman
It may well be time, then, for Holyrood to look at this act.
I appreciate that some matters of council business need to be in private, including policy formulation.
However, the levels of secrecy in this administration really would put the politburo to shame.
This is an issue which concerns a number of communities in Argyll and Bute. For councillors to deny that a meeting event took place (as I understand at least one is) is at best insulting to constituents.
Can these people not see the anger their confrontational attitude is causing?
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It will be interesting to see if Councillor Currie attends the MAKI meeting in Islay on Wednesday 8th June 2011.
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The agenda for a Special Council meeting at 11.30 am on Tuesday 14 June 2011 to consider the proposed moratorium on school closures has just been issued.
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The fox is afoot. But who is going to shoot the fox?
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Form an orderly queue…
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It’s all a bit like watching the film “Titanic”; some accepting finally that there is no chance of keeping the vessel afloat while others rush about frantically in denial, unwilling or unable to see that whatever they do the ship will still sink. This disaster has been a long time coming.
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Except theres no Leonardo Di Caprio to keep you interested.
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Well Douglas, there’s the Minister, Audit Scotland when it finds out how much money’s been wasted, the Standards Commission, the Children’s Commission, the Equalities Commission, the Court and 27 outraged communities. Oh, and ARSN and the SRSN and those well-wishers from other places who sometimes send new shotguns. The hunt just keeps growing.
I’m never sure whether this fox is brave or just plain stupid.
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Toward Lad : Can these people not see the anger their confrontational attitude is causing?
unfortunately for us, although the readership of forargyll is likely to be growing in a satisfactory manner due to concerns over the schools from some parts of the community – there are hordes and hordes of constituents out there in Argyll who really could not care less, OR worse, believe that the council are likely to be right in this era of stringent belt tightening and that everyone here are just ignorant hysterical rabblerousers.
That is why we have had this sort of administration for decades, not just the last year or two. These councillors and council official learnt their trade and arts at the feet of even more illustrious manipulators, who had the advantage of being able to practise their manipulation of our affairs without hinderance from annoyingly nosy members of the public.
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Phill, I share your concerns when it comes to ‘Independent’ councillors. It should be borne in mind that it is not much different from the Scottish Parliament or Westminster Parliament where the various political parties will have their own private meetings and form a view on how they are going to address a specific issue. Once that majority view has been expressed by their members, then they all support the ‘party’ line and collective responsibility comes into play.
S.White, if it is classed as a political group meeting, then the Members are entitled to claim travel costs. These meetings normally take place during the week and on the same day as other Council business is taking place so as to minimise and additional travel costs.
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Nobody has mentioned Councillor Currie who was posted missing from last Sunday’s meeting in Inverary.
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Barcaldine Tyger.
The current Council Tax is totally different from the Community Charge (wrongly called the Poll Tax).
The Community Charge was introduced because we had a rateable value revaluation in Scotland in the early 1980′s where the previous rateable value was increased by a factor of 3.7. The rateable value on my flat in Dundee increased from £119 to £441. The rates bill should have remained the same by reducing the pence per £ charged to reflect this revaluation. However many Labour run local authorities in Scotland of which Tayside Region and Dundee District Council were both Labour controlled, took the oportunity to greatly increase the pence per £ collected and blamed Mrs Thatcher and the Conservative Government of the day for the increase.
As there had been no rateable value revaluation in England and no subsequent huge increase in rates bills the decision was taken to introduce the Community Charge in Scotland.
If you do not belive me ask some of the long standing Argyll & Bute councillors who have no political affiliation if my facts are correct.
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On the contrary Treblet, newsroom has singled him out in the 3rd para and followed up with
a lovely description of Councillor Currie at home with his toys in the pram on the day of the meeting….. a compelling yet strangely disturbing picture, thanks for the nightmares newsroom!
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islayresident.
Yes, but which way will he vote.
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Once again very clear update from Cllr Freeman.
Just wondering if there are any of the ‘gang of 4 ‘ who went out of their way to sort out Cllr Freeeman now leaking like a sieve!
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Phill, it was a gang of 5.
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Cheers sir.
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For phill: Is it reasonable to assume that if children are at the forefront of Councillor Robertson’s mind, she will vote against the administration?
Parents from several threatened schools have been reporting marked stress-related behavioural changes in their children.
When you think that we’re talking here about the youngest of our children in the education system, you have to question the moral defence for causing this on demonstrably unsound and legally unable foundations.
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