Arbroath Library’s fate continues to hang by a thread after campaigners last night forced what may be a final delay in the building’s transfer from the town common good.
Against the recommendation of officers, the full meeting of Angus Council in Forfar voted 19-7 in favour of an amendment put forward by town councillor David Fairweather to defer a decision on moving David Corsar’s gift to the local authority’s general fund.
It seems likely the move will only delay the inevitable, but the vote has secured councillors the right to see senior counsel advice, which had been a bone of contention for critics of the plan led by Angus independent Bob Spink angry at being denied access to the top-level legal report.
The document will not, however, be made public after elected members agreed that the report should be a ‘green paper’ matter taken behind closed doors.
The continuing furore over the demand for full and open access to expert legal dossiers brought a strong warning from council leader Iain Gaul that such a move would “open a can of worms” for Angus.
The deferral decision was taken only after Angus Provost Helen Oswald had ruled incompetent an initial motion by Mr Spink which aimed to halt the library transfer, on the grounds that it was in conflict with the legal advice given to the council.
Mr Spink, who saw a previous motion suffer the same fate when the matter was debated a few months ago, said: “That is no surprise it just means that I am once again denied the right to make my case.”
Legal chief Sheona Hunter told members she had never disputed the fact that the library was a gift from benefactor David Corsar, but she said that did not determine which council account it should be held on.
“The advice we received is that it is legally correct that the library is not held on the common good account, based on case law,” she said.
“If we were to ignore that we would be in breach of the law. There are few sanctions available, but my viewis that it would be quite wrong for this council to flagrantly breach the law.”
Mr Fairweather said he felt it was important that Arbroath members, as common good trustees, should see senior counsel’s report, adding: “We haven’t been given all the information we require.”
Fellow Arbroath member Ewan Smith said: “It would set an unhealthy precedent if we took a decision today given that we have not been in possession of all the information.”
Council leader Mr Gaul defended the official’s course of action and warned of the consequences of calling for full and open access to every legal report.
“It has been the custom and practice of this council that independent legal advice is evaluated by law and administration and then disseminated to the lay people around this table,” he said.
“It is not in Angus Council’s best interest for all our legal advice to be put in the public domain and I would ask you all to consider very seriously the effects of doing that.
“It’s a can of worms you’re opening and you have to be especially careful,” he added.