News of Arbroath’s Muirfield Action Group champion has reached us from Angus.
Councillor Ewan Smith has been appointed Vice Convener of Education at Angus Council.
He is working with ‘a fantastic Convener in Sheena Welsh, a former teacher and excellent councillor (in her tenth term of council)’ and seems to be hugely looking forward to what they can do together in bringing a rational and well executed school estate to Arbroath,
FANTASTIC NEWS!! Congratulations to Ewan!
Sheena is a very experienced councillor, having been on the Angus Education Committee for many years and also was a teacher. Her husband is Andrew Welsh,the popular SNP MP and MSP, who recently retired. Sheena and Ewan together will make an excellent team. Education in Angus is in capable hands.
Ewan deserves this success. Nobody has worked so hard as him to research the school situation in Arbroath. The amount of work he has done has been incredible. He has remained passionate to keep his children’s school open, often fighting against the odds, when most would have given up. If at this time last year, any one had predicted that Ewan would be Vice Convener of Education the following year, they would have thought them mad!! It goes to show that if you strongly believe is something, any thing is possible.
In the process, the former Education Convener, Peter Nield, who insulted both Mike Russell and Ewan with various threats, has had a humiliating defeat with not many votes. We are left wondering where the “silent majority” have gone!
It is quite hilarious that Ewan has ousted him from not only his seat in the local election, but also his convenership.
If Peter Nield begins to talk of “gerrymandering” (He used the wrong terminology in any case) or further threatens to report the Education Minister, Mike Russell, to the Parliamentary Standards Committee, he is going to look even more foolish.
A judicial review ordered by the outgoing administration to try to overturn the Scottish Government’s decision to halt the closure of Muirfield and Timmergreens Primary Schools in Arbroath was set to take place on the day of the elections, but was adjourned until the end of June. With a new administration in place, it is unlikely to go ahead, although is still hanging in the balance. It was estimated it could cost the tax payer at least £40,000.
Hopefully with Sheena and Ewan in charge of education,and a new administration at Angus Council, sense will prevail.
Thank you once again to forArgyll for covering the story so fully. At times of gloom, you gave us hope!
I have been reading your election results and see that you, too, have had a few changes in your council. All your repeated comments about elections come May, have proved correct.
Best wishes to all at forArgyll.
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Arbroath Resident,
We (ARSN) followed the Muirfield campaign with keen interest and in particular the work and effort put in by Ewan with the support of Sandy Longmuir and rest of SRSN.
It goes without saying that we were deligfhted when the SG called in the decision, flabberghasted with the Council decided to go to judicial review, then more delighted with your election results. It will be good to see sense prevail and this sorry incident banished to the annals of time.
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Thanks to Integrity and ARSN for those comments, and all your support through out. Yes it really is like a fairy tale with goodies and baddies. Hopefully, like in all good fairy tales, it remains with the happy ending!
I agree, too, with you on the input from Sandy Longmuir and Justin Willey. Tremendous effort from them behind the scenes.
Thanks again.
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