Two scathing standards commission reports have slammed Angus Council’s “ongoing political failure” and have demanded that it take urgent steps to eradicate its petty in-fighting.
The commission’s chief investigating officer issued his damning verdict of the council on Wednesday, after two Arbroath councillors were cleared of political wrongdoing in tit-for-tat complaints.
The council recently began putting measures in place to resolve minor difficulties between its councillors before they escalated but only after repeated warnings from independent authorities that its constant bickering and “significant” number of formal complaints were damaging its ability to deliver for voters.
The reports have now warned that the local authority’s measures must go further than paying lip service to those concerns.
Mr D. Stuart Allan stresses that the council cannot simply adopt the measures, it must also actively implement and apply them.
His reports also “strongly urge” councillors to “rise to this challenge.”
The criticism came after Arbroath West members David Fairweather and Alex King submitted formal complaints to the standards commission about each other’s conduct.
Neither complaint was upheld by Mr Stuart Allan.
Councillor Fairweather had complained to the commission in March after a row over possible use of Arbroath’s common good fund to pay towards a community fireworks display.
The Alliance member originally raised the suggestion with local authority officers, who circulated it to the other Arbroath councillors via email to sound out their views.Fairweather branded “a nobody”It was Councillor King’s response to that email, which accused Mr Fairweather of being a “nobody” and “in pursuit of his own personal desires”, which sparked the formal complaint.
On Wednesday Mr King was cleared of wrongdoing by Mr Stuart Allan, who said he had been within his rights to raise the question of interest.
But the standards commission officer did criticise the SNP member for the manner in which he raised the issue, and accused him of “falling short of the behaviour that should be shown towards another member of the council.”
He added, “The expressions used by the respondent in the email… did not constitute the considered reply, which any officer having to conduct the council’s business is entitled to expect from a councillor.
“It amounted, rather, to a personal attack on another member of the council.”
The complaint against Mr Fairweather, meanwhile, was lodged by Mr King in April in response to a heated debate over plans to use common good land to extend car parking facilities at Arbroath Infirmary.
The Alliance member had chosen a council meeting to accuse Mr King and independent Arbroath representative Bob Spink of telling “porky pies” about him in the press, and of being “best-selling writers of fiction” when referring to his individual stance on the matter.
Mr Fairweather was cleared of being disrespectful to his fellow councillors in a separate standards commission report on Wednesday.”Political cut and thrust”That report also noted that Mr King had admitted to making the complaint 12 months after the incident and only after Mr Fairweather had lodged proceedings against him in relation to the fireworks controversy.
It said that Mr Spink had not thought Mr Fairweather’s comments worthy of a formal complaint, and that he had advised Mr King of this at the time.
In his report Mr Stuart Allan said, “I consider that Councillor Spink’s assessment had merit. He clearly assessed that the heated exchanges on this issue constituted what passes for political ‘cut and thrust’.”
However, despite being cleared of wrongdoing, Mr Fairweather did not escape Mr Stuart Allan’s wrath and was accused of “falling short of what might more properly have been said in political debate, and for that he is to be criticised.”
Slamming the council and the two councillors for letting the complaints escalate, Mr Stuart Allan said, “I found that there was joint ongoing political failure of the council administration and the SNP opposition group to establish a necessary level of collaborative working, notwithstanding political differences, which contributes to combative conduct among councillors.
“It is also the case that there is a level of personal difficulty and indeed apparent animosity between the complainant and respondent which colours their judgment on how they conduct themselves in relation to one another.”
He added, “This is highly unfortunate, not least for the electorate of the ward they both represent.
“It reflects no personal credit on either of them.”Action “a matter of urgency”Demanding urgent action to tackle the institutionalised hostility between the Alliance and SNP, Mr Stuart Allan added that it was a “matter of some urgency” that the council took on-board earlier Audit Scotland warnings that the political parties “better work together.”
Mr King said, “It is quite clear that myself and Councillor Fairweather have had our differences.
“That has been quite apparent in our exchanges in the council chambers, not least my complaint about Councillor Fairweather with him calling me a liar over the matter of car parking in the infirmary.”
He added that the repeated advice from independent bodies meant it was time for the ruling administration to “wake up.”
Mr King said, “There are some things outstanding that they will not deal with, and not just the membership of the civic licensing and development standards committee.
“The leader of the administration is also the leader of the scrutiny and audit committee against the recommendations of the Audit Commission.”
Mr Fairweather, meanwhile, said that the pair had cleared the air.
He said, “Councillor King and myself have spoken and we have shaken hands and we have agreed that we will stop the nonsense with each other.
“We’ve attended a number of meetings and are working very well together.”