Today's full Council meeting was an ill-tempered affair.
First to get himself all hot and bothered was Lib Dem Group Leader Alan Blair, who attacked a motion from the Planning Board Chair, Conservative Councillor David Wilson, and seconded by SNP Group Leader Innes Nelson, to replace Lib Dem Tom Fyfe with SNP Councillor Keith Brooks as Planning Board Vice-Chair.
Despite Councillor Blair telling us how intelligent his colleague Councillor Fyfe is, his motion to retain Councillor Fyfe as Vice Chair was overwhelmingly defeated.
There was no secret before today that the relationship between the Chair and Vice Chair of the Planning Board had broken down irretrievably, with Councillor Fyfe publicly criticising Councillor Wilson and even reporting him to the Standards Commission for an alleged breach of the Councillor's code of conduct. It is simply not possible for the chair and vice chair of a committee or board to work together in such circumstances. Incidentally Councillor Wilson was cleared by the Standards Commission of any wrong-doing.
The next person to get a bit over excited was SNP Councillor Chris Osborne, who criticised the Provost for the way he was chairing the meeting and then proceeded to insult the Leader, Depute Leader and former Leader of the Council by referring to us as 'the three stooges'! Fortunately for big Chris I have a thick skin, so I won't be referring him to the Standards Commission.
We then had SNP Councillor Jim MacLeod - who has been a councillor for under 4 years - questioning Councillor George White's experience to take on the position of Chair of the General Purposes Board. I was not alone in pointing out that George is one of the longest-serving members of the Council and that he had previously chaired a major service committee.
When the dust had settled, the Administration had made a number of key positional changes.
Labour Councillor Terry Loughran has replaced Council Leader Iain McKenzie as Convener of the Education & Lifelong Learning Committee, with Iain taking on Terry's previous position of Vice Convener. Congratulations to Terry on his appointment to this important role.
Independent Councillor Ronnie Ahlfeld has taken over as Convener of the Regeneration Committee from Labour Councillor Jim Clocherty, who was previously promoted to Depute Leader of the Council. Yours truly has taken on Councillor Ahlfeld's previous position as Vice Convener of the Regeneration Committee.
I am looking forward to working with Councillor Ahlfeld to drive forward the Council's regeneration strategy in the remaining year of this Council term. A great deal has been achieved in the last 4 years, for which Jim Clocherty takes huge credit, but, as Jim will acknowledge, more needs to be done.
The redevelopment of central Gourock and the regeneration of Port Glasgow Town Centre will be two of our highest priorities. Support for new community facilities, including for Inverkip, will also be high on our agenda.
In the current economic climate it is crucial that, working with Riverside Inverclyde and our other partners, we build on the successful employment initiatives that have been developed over the last 4 years.
I am very much up for the challenge.
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I am not at all suprised by your description of what is going on with Inverclydes elected officials .
ReplyDeleteCouncillor Blair has a reputation for bluster, to try and retain councillor Fyfe who does very little for his constituents is just him trying to raise their profile before they are wiped out in Scotland and then locally.
Innes Nelson jumped ship from independant to SNP and was elected on the coat tails of an SNP councillor who has sadly passed away but couldnt stand the man. This mans morals and ethics must be called into question. No understanding of his ward outside Wemyss Bay
Chris Osborne , a student wannabe career politician who knows little about anything other than his party rhetoric. Party loyalty is one thing, utter stupidity is what we are left with .When the political arguement cant be won ,go to the complaints commision. Again ask in his ward and practically nobody knows him
Jim Macleod ,always wronged, never gracious and always questioning the capabilities of others.Time to grow up Jim. High profile but just for being arguementative.
Labour, an administration who lost control early into their term after being warned about selecting a councillor who had the gift of the gab and carried some favour within your party
. Rejected for the deputy job which carried a tidy little bonus ,he found another way to supplement this .How this man was ever selected escapes me .
Now I voted Labour but you had better have a good look at yourself,because even if you win or lose at Holyrood ,the SNP are starting to win some of the battles.
Even with this inept bunch of councillors,the SNP couldd possibly take control next year. And you will have no one but yourselfs to blame . Simply having a go at them is not good enough. You need to take the fight to them and show that you have better people with a better understanding of our communities and how they work.
Thanks for your comments David but I am afraid you ignore the significant achievements of this Administration, which most fair minded people - and even some of our opponents privately - would acknowledge has done a great deal to improve the lives of Inverclyde residents.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am never complacent, I am confident that our record will stand us in good stead in next year's election.
Stephen ,I fully acknowledge the achievments of your administration.
ReplyDeleteAnd I apologise for not mentioning these ,but it was not my point,in fact it is your achivements and the fact that an SNP win in Holyrood and the conduct of some of the local councillors including your own (elected at the time under a labour ticket) that could see you out of office.
If this happened the local administration would be run by an SNP led coalition.
Your record could very well stand you in good stead but this is a record that has been hijacked by opposition parties at every turn.Stuart Mcmillan is already taking credit for a lot of your acheivments and claiming these were pursued through the support of the SNP government.
I am confident that we will field a strong team of Labour candidates at next year's Council elections David and between now and then we will be working hard to get our message across.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, I am never complacent, which is why I was in Port Glasgow this morning before 9.00 delivering letters to postal voters.
I think Mr McMillan's track record speaks for itself. I would wager my pension on a heavy defeat for said chap on May 5th.
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