A Scottish Police Authority figure has admitted mistakes were made in the handling of the controversial decision to close police counters in Angus towns.
The authority’s Angus liaison member, Edinburgh councillor Iain Whyte, said the consultation over plans which saw public access axed at Montrose, Brechin and Carnoustie was too short and too limited as the new body sought to achieve more than £60 million of savings following the introduction of Scotland’s single force.
But at a full meeting of Angus Council in Forfar, Mr Whyte said the partnership work between the authority and police locally was an example which other parts of the country could do well to replicate.
Mr Whyte had been invited by the council to address the full council and said part of the cost-cutting focus had arrived at facilities where counters were not being used often or for core services.
“As a police authority, we are building up the scrutiny aspect but in the first few months (of the new set-up) we perhaps should have done better,” he told the Forfar meeting.
“The public counters consultation was undertaken to assist with the budget, but it wasn’t consulted very widely in advance and if it had been there would have been more councils like your own that might have come forward with proposals for joint working,” he added.
“We can all do far more in collaboration and the bit we were unhappy with on the counters proposal was that there wasn’t enough forward thinking over things like sharing with police, fire and ambulance.”
Angus already has arrangements in place at Monifieth and Kirriemuir ACCESS offices for joint working, and the council’s strategic director of communities, Alan McKeown said further developments are in the offing.
“We have a very positive relationship with Angus Commander Chief Inspector Gordon Milne and his team, and that is very much to the benefit of Angus,” said the director.
“We are working to develop this and build on what is happening.”
Chief Inspector Milne, pictured, told councillors that the footfall at stations such as Montrose and Brechin had declined significantly over the years.
“The mobile phone is now the means that most people use to contact the police, and it is simple now through 101.”