Comment posted Council lose Court of Session case raised by Helensburgh Landlord by Councillor George Freeman.
Integrity, the details have still to be finalised.
Councillor George Freeman also commented
- Hotbird, this is the Graham Williamson Building which is the Council’s main IT centre.
Recent comments by Councillor George Freeman
- Labour MSP Rhoda Grant’s response to Struan Lodge decision
Having now taken the time to read the original Breslin / Blair motion and what FA tells us was eventually agreed by the Council yesterday, this appears to be a serious climb down by Breslin and Blair.It is now clear that the Breslin / Blair motion would not have been supported by the Council and that is why the compromise by Walsh had to be put forward. We know that the ten Helensburgh councillors support the closure of all Council run care homes because of the ridiculously high costs and would never have supported the Breslin / Blair motion.
Even the Walsh motion that was approved by the Council did not lift the moratorium on placing any new residents in Struan Lodge. All it has done has kicked the issue into the long grass for a couple of months. That was to get Cllr Morton and her Lib Dem colleagues and Cllr Mulvaney and his Tory colleagues to support the Walsh motion.
In their motion that they were forced to withdraw, Breslin and Blair had asked for the Council to rescind the moratorium on new admissions with immediate effect. They were forced to backtrack on this as it was clear that Walsh and the opposition councillors would not support such a proposal.
They should be asked why they decided that they would continue to support the moratorium when the opposition clearly had the numbers to force any decision through the Council and by doing so, have let the Struan Lodge residents and staff down.
- Three administration members vote against agreed budgetary position on Struan Lodge
Having now taken the time to read the original Breslin / Blair motion and what FA tells us was eventually agreed by the Council today, this appears to be a serious climb down by Breslin and Blair.It is now clear that the Breslin / Blair motion would not have been supported by the Council and that is why the compromise by Walsh had to be put forward. We know that the ten Helensburgh councillors support the closure of all Council run care homes and would never have supported the Breslin / Blair motion.
Even the Walsh motion that was approved by the Council did not lift the moratorium on placing any new residents in Struan Lodge. All it has done has kicked the issue into the long grass for a couple of months.
In their motion that they were forced to withdraw, Breslin and Blair had asked for the Council to rescind the moratorium on new admissions with immediate effect. They were forced to backtrack on this as it was clear that Walsh and the opposition councillors would not support such a proposal.
They should be asked why they decided that they would continue to support the moratorium when the opposition clearly had the numbers to force any decision through the Council and by dooing so, have let the Struan Lodge residents and staff down
- MSP v Council Leader now ‘last man standing’ face-off with SNP and Argyll the losers
MB, you say that “The whole M Breslin and Blair thing is a joke, whilst the two of them where turned over by there party it’s refreshing to see at least one did the right thing”.Given that he was elected on an SNP ticket, surely the right thing would be for Mike Breslin to resign as a councillor and then take his chance in the subsequent by-election as a Tory / Lib Dem / Labour / Independent candidate? Surely that would be the honerable thing to do?
It looks like he does not have the courage of his convictions.
- Struan Lodge on agenda for today’s council meeting
Simon, you are not far of the mark. How about the Argyll First lot (Philand, Kelly and McAlpine)? It is clear that they do not have the guts (or backbone) to take a hard decision and are happy for their own constituents to subsidise Struan Lodge in Dunoon when their own constituents will see services to their own eldery folk in the Mid Argyll area being cut. - Struan Lodge on agenda for today’s council meeting
Neil, it is clear that you do not have clue as to what you are talking about.
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‘How much has this cost?’ – presumably quite a lot, if the council took it to the High Court. If ‘the calibre of the legal advice that the council and its officers are receiving internally and externally’ is toxic, perhaps the council could limit their loss by terminating (or at the very least transferring out of harm’s way) the internal adviser responsible for this debacle, and deducting the council’s costs from their pension package. External advisers could be difficult to sue, but it would be reassuring to have it confirmed that no more advice would be sought from that source.
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What a wonderful idea and just to balance things up when the Council wins a dispute the advisor could be given a huge bonus. Do you honestly expect a local authority to win every case it contests? It must be good to be utterly perfect like yourself. I’m surprised you didnt make a bigger mark on the world.
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Sorry if I hit a nerve, JayC – perfection’s got nothing to do with it – why are you defending the advisers who’ve dropped the council in it, when the council’s struggling for want of finance? Or do you think the council’s a glorified job creation scheme for the senior staff, and anything goes? A case of the ‘untouchables’?
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No nerves here bt if you want to penalise poor performance lets rewards good performance! The suggestion that an employees pension should be altered as a result of “interpretation of law” is ridiculous. Based on both your and Coracles thinking then I assume you’ll be shouting for Alex Salmond /Keith Brown to go if the contractor challenging the Serco Ferries tender award is successful? After all we all want consistency and transparency! As DC would say LOL.
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Shouldn’t your ‘interpretation of law’ read ‘misinterpretation of law’? You’re mixing threads, but no, I wouldn’t be calling for a fatwa on politicians; whoever ‘managed’ the Kilcreggan ferry fiasco in SPT should be given the bum’s rush, and if someone in Transport Scotland bungled the Northern Isles contract they should be held accountable. It’s surely reasonable to expect people to be adequately qualified to adequately execute their job, and you could be picking a bad time to suggest giving rewards for not screwing up – witness recent shareholder’s meetings, and the furore over London bus drivers threatening strike action unless they get extra money for doing their jobs during the Olympics. p.s. in some places LOL is translated as ‘Lordy oh Lordy’ – take your pick.
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It might be illuminating to see the Council’s record in such cases over, say, the past ten years. There has been , I suspect, a policy of attempting to “face down” possible litigants with the threat of expensive High Court action. Of course we do not then hear of the consequences when the bluff is called and the people of Argyll & Bute pick up the tab.
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As a Council taxpayer in Argyll & Bute and I suspect you are also, I do not expect this Council to continue wasting our money in court cases that they quite obviously cannot win. This case bares all the hallmarks of one I have just won against them(another waste of money). The time has come for the Council Officer/s who are responsible for filling Brodies bank account with our Council tax money to be exposed and forced to explain there actions. This blatant misuse of money in a private business would be treated as commercial suicide. However it seems that these officers are left to make there own decisions and waste Council tax money in a cavalier fashion without any of our Councillors being fully informed of what is going on and the likelihood of success. Lets hope our new administration put an end to this and the money wasted is utilised on far more important cash strapped services.
This may even lead to the children in Lochgilphead getting a decent school dinner..
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incompetence but also sleazey as the council tries to evade a few pounds on a technicality but loses thousands in the resulting court case. bin louden must go.
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With you on that one coracle. They obviously don’t assess Best Value on their own performances.
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It might be worth pointing out that this incompetence was yet another example of why the administration had to change.
We now have a new one.
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Can someone please say what this premises is used for and what is the justification for renting this property? How much property does the Council rent in total?
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Hotbird, this is the Graham Williamson Building which is the Council’s main IT centre.
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Hi George,
Is the IT centre going to be relocated into the new Clyde Centre building or are those plans not firmed out yet?
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Integrity, the details have still to be finalised.
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Thanks, Councillor Freeman.
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The incoming administration – entitled, as elected members, to see the legal advice received on this matter, might make it public in the interests of transparency.
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LOL. Me has preference for Dave Cameron’s reported use as LOTS OF LOVE. What we all need, particularly directed toward our new administration entrusted by us, the electorate, to bring forth better local government.
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