An astonishing attack has been launched by a community council on the “deplorable attitude” of Perth and Kinross Council.
Mid-Atholl, Strathtay and Grandtully Community Council chairman Peter Hounam launched the blistering broadside.
It is just the latest community council to hit out at the authority for a perceived lack of consultation.
Mr Hounam said, “It has been a successful year for Mid-Atholl community council, despite a critical problem that afflicts all such bodies in our area.
“While saying how important we are because we are the lowest official representative body in our political system, Perth and Kinross Council acts as though we are of no importance whatsoever.
“It is a deplorable attitude that has to change and we shall be campaigning on this issue over the next year in the run up to the council elections in May.”
He said some members have been supportive, but the council “bureaucracy… pays little or no heed to our needs, or our views.”
Mr Hounam cited examples such as the council refusing to help during consultation over the main issues report (MIR) a planning document that will shape the area’s future.
He said it would not help with mailing costs, provide a list of the local electorate or even give a copy of the MIR to the five community councillors, claiming it would cost £6000 to do so.
Mr Hounam said, “We were therefore left trying to generate interest in this important issue on behalf of a local authority that was paying lip service to truly local democracy.”
A request for further meetings was ignored, he claimed.Not interestedMr Hounam suggested the planning department is “not interested in what this community thinks and wants on both big planning issues and smaller ones.”
He said, “If a community council, after careful deliberation, decides it must oppose a planning application, you would expect the bureaucrats in Perth to heed our objections except on the rarest of occasions and only because there are policy arguments against doing so.
“You would also expect the community council to be further consulted before the die was cast. When the decision was finally made you would expect a detailed explanation to be included in the planner’s report informing the public why the community council’s wishes had not prevailed.”
He added, “You would expect all these things, but you would be wrong to think it happens. It is as if our submissions had been tossed into the bin.”
A council spokeswoman said the authority supports community councils and said that the claims are “completely unfounded.”
She said it would be “prohibitively expensive” to provide copies of the document, but supplied one copy to each community council and exhibition material for a community meeting.
She said the MIR report was available online, all-day drop-in sessions were held and planning staff were contactable throughout the process and work to consider all consultations will not be complete until late this year.
She said, “All comments and submissions we receive are given due consideration under national and local planning regulations and guidance.”
Community councils are funded by the local authority and are supposed to be a platform for local input to larger issues.
The Convention of Perth and Kinross Community Councils has previously had a “vote of no confidence” in the council, claiming its members have been “ignored and marginalised.”
Individual community councils have been placed in abeyance and seen recent mass resignations.