Give the folk of Inverness a referendum

hogben — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:30:30 +0000

Highland Council are proposing to build a new road – the West Link – to provide a southern bypass for Inverness and allow traffic travelling from the A82 to the A9 and vice-versa to avoid the town centre. I have no view on the merits or otherwise of the proposal or any of the particular options. I do, however, have a view on the fact that Highland Council are in a state of denial that part of the land required for the new road belongs to the Common good Fund of the Royal Burgh of Inverness. This does not, of itself, prevent a road being built but it may require the Council to seek the approval of the courts and would certainly entitle the Common Good Fund to be receive a capital sum by way of compensation. The story has unfolded in an interesting fashion. More

Highland Council to examine West Link land title deeds

hogben — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:27:17 +0000

Continue reading the main story

COUNCIL IN ‘RECORD PAY-OFF’ SCANDAL

hogben — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:37:32 +0000

Willie Docherty is in line to receive a staggering £615,000 when he steps down next year Sunday November 13,2011 By Ben Borland

Have your say(5)

A CONTROVERSIAL quango boss who gave lucrative contracts to millionaire Labour donors is set to pocket Scotland’s biggest ever public sector ‘golden goodbye’.

The Sunday Express understands Willie Docherty, head of cash-strapped Scottish council’s arm’s-length firm, is in line to receive a staggering £615,000 when he steps down next year.

Part of a special super-charged early retirement package, the prospective deal includes a £465,000 tax-free sum on top of his £150,000 salary – an annual wage higher than Prime Minister David Cameron.

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Mr Docherty, 55, the chief executive of City Building Glasgow, is no stranger to controversy, as he was closely linked to drugs shame former Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell and has faced repeated cronyism accusations because of his links with Labour.

Last month, it emerged that Scotland’s 32 councils have spent more than £65million on golden goodbyes over the past two years. But Mr Docherty’s would be easily the largest single payment – and equal to almost one hundredth of the total paid to tens of thousands of ordinary council staff.

All too often we see executives walk away with huge amounts of taxpayers’ money and these types of deals have to come to an end

John O’Connell, research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance

It was described yesterday as a “massive slap in the face” for the council taxpayers of Scotland’s largest city, many of whom are among the poorest in Western Europe.

John O’Connell, research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be furious if any of their cash has been used to fund this golden goodbye.

“All too often we see executives walk away with huge amounts of taxpayers’ money and these types of deals have to come to an end if we want to have sustainable public finances in the future.

“We must ensure that no money can be taken from the budgets of hard-working families to fund extravagant exit deals for the top-brass at organisations that sit in the grey area between the public and private sectors.”

James Dornan, leader of the council’s SNP group, said: “If the figures are true then this is an incredible payout that taxpayers will struggle to understand – especially in this financial climate.

“This money could be used to support the people of Glasgow but instead it is paying off an official in Labour’s favourite quango.

“It is sickening to learn this is possibly the largest council pay-off in the UK – and is consequently a massive slap in the face from Labour to the people of Glasgow.”

The record British council pay-off is thought to be £545,000 paid to Wakefield chief executive John Foster in 2009, while Sir John Elvidge, Scotland’s top civil servant, received a £300,000 deal when he retired as Permanent Secretary last year.

Tom Aitchison, the chief executive who left Edinburgh City Council £1.3billion in debt, received a £210,000 lump sum when he walked away in January.

Glasgow’s £120million early retirement fund has already come under fire after it emerged the city’s property stock had been re-mortgaged in order to fund generous pay-offs for high-earning executives.

The local authority is facing a budget described by the council leader as “the hardest we have ever faced”, including a £122million cut in housing payments.

As part of his pay-off, Mr Docherty is also rumoured to be in line to receive a 40 year service bonus despite only having 30 years with the council and its subsidiary.

A former apprentice who grew up in Glasgow’s tough Castlemilk scheme, his wife Sadie is a Labour councillor in the city.

City Building was formed in 2006 from Glasgow City Council’s old Building Services Department, one of 12 ‘arm’s length’ firms set up by former leader Mr Purcell. The council maintains ultimate responsibility for the company.

Mr Docherty announced he was stepping down in September, boasting that he had grown the business into one of Scotland’s largest construction firms. However, its order book is swelled by dozens of lucrative council and other public sector contracts from Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

Mr Docherty said at the time: “It has been an enormous privilege to lead City Building into the commercial marketplace where it now competes on an equal footing with the private sector.”

The firm came under scrutiny when it awarded more than £10million of vehicle and heavy plant contracts to a company owned by Labour backer Willie Haughey.

City Building also awarded a £600,000 contract to Labour donor Andrew Smillie’s scaffolding firm, and gave out £100 vouchers for a restaurant owned by Labour supporter James Mortimer.

Mr Docherty also came under fire for spending £4,000 of City Building’s budget on tables at two Labour fundraising dinners.

Claims of “cronyism” at the council subsidiary were further sparked by the appointment of Lesley Quinn, Scottish Labour’s former general secretary, to a newly created business development post.

City Building insisted last night that the package has not been finalised, although the Sunday Express understands these figures have already been discussed at the highest levels.

A spokesman said: “Willie Docherty does not retire until March 31, 2012, and his retirement package will be finalised shortly before his leaving date. Any employee’s retirement package is confidential, and, like any business, is specific to the pension contributions that the individual has made throughout their time with the organisation.”

Councillor makes appeal for calm on Angus Common Good funds

hogben — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:15:10 +0000

A call for calm has been made in the row over the administration of Angus Common Good funds

After fears were raised that Arbroath Library might become the first victim of a review which could lead to it being transferred to the council’s general account, finance spokesman Councillor Mark Salmond gave an assurance that burgh common good funds will remain.

But there was no confirmation that assets within burgh funds, such as libraries facilities,

are guaranteed to stay there under the terms of any review recommendations and future options will not be revealed until later this month.

Angus independent Bob Spink sparked the row with a hands-off warning to officials over the prospect of Arbroath Library being transferred out of the town common good fund.

Mr Spink said any change that would affect the library’s status as a gift to the burgh and its residents would be the equivalent of “corporate theft”.

Last night Mr Salmond said a common good review had been set up to clear up grey areas of administration and pulling together the burgh funds was not on the cards.

“I can give burghs a categorical assurance that a single common good fund for Angus is not being considered,” he said. “Common good funds are legally protected — they cannot be used for any other purpose than that which they were set up for.

“So Angus communities can rest assured that the individual funds are burgh funds and they will stay that way, making a valuable contribution to their burgh.”

On the current review and audit of common goods funds, Mr Salmond said: “Communities with common good funds had been calling for a full audit and review of the funds; the council supported that and is now in the process of carrying out a burgh by burgh review.

“The purpose of the review — the first for several years — is to clarify some of the more ambiguous areas, such as the nature of the land, in accordance with the most up to date common good law.

“The complex history and circumstance of every common good fund can make the administration of them no easy task for councils and we knew when we started the audit that the findings would create considerable discussion and in some cases disagreement in burghs.

“That’s why we said we would be sharing the outcome of each burgh audit with the local community to give people the chance to examine our findings and submit any evidence they may have to either support or contest them.”

Mr Salmond said the council would consider a report on the Arbroath Common Good Fund on September 15.

Arbroath Library

However, a council spokesman could not confirm if the completed report made any specific recommendations for Arbroath Library.

“The audits are being done alphabetically. Arbroath’s fund is the first to be done and that has now been completed,” said Mr Salmond.

“The findings will be reported at the council meeting next month when members will be asked to approve the consultation arrangements that will give the community the opportunity to scrutinise our findings and submit any additional evidence they may have or be aware of.

“Only when all of that is completed will the council make any decisions about any changes to the Arbroath Common Good Fund. That same process will be followed for each burgh as the audits are carried out.”

Mr Salmond urged people to wait to see the full findings before pre-judging the outcome. “There is still a lot of discussion to be had about each fund,” he said.

Councillor against library transfer ARBROATH

hogben — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:09:39 +0000

ARBROATH East and Lunan councillor Bob Spink is vehemently opposed to a move by Angus Council to transfer ownership of Arbroath Library building from the Common Good Fund to the local authority’s general fund. He said it would remove an asset with a value of £868,000 and an annual income of £25,000 from the ownership of the people of Arbroath to ownership of Angus Council.

http://www.arbroathherald.co.uk/community/councillor_against_library_transfer_1_1797059

Proposal to build on Queens Park Recreational Ground

hogben — Thu, 12 May 2011 07:33:42 +0000

It has been brought to our attention that part of the Queen’s Park recreation ground is the City Council’s preferred site for a large residential facility for elderly people. This decision has been made with out consulting the community or the community councils. It is our understanding that the local elected members were only made aware of this plan recently.

It is also our understanding that at least one community council have already objected in writing to the council regarding the proposal on the following grounds.

1. Whereas the sites preferred in other parts of the city are brown field, the site selected here is not only a green field site, but an intrinsic part of Queen’s Park which is Common Good land according to the current definitions employed by the legal team within Land and Environmental Services. We see no evidence that brownfield sites on the south side, such as the sites of schools scheduled for closure, have been considered.

2. This area of Glasgow is one of the most densely built up areas with narrow tenemented streets and with the few recreational facilities or green space other than Queen’s Park, according to the City’s own ward analyses. The Park and recreation ground therefore represent an exceptionally important facility. The recreation ground, though not well maintained, is frequently used by young people from Crosshill/Govanhill and other parts of the area for football and cricket. There are few flat and suitable areas in Queens Park for this type of activity. Part of it is on the long lease, far from expired, to the Queens Park Bowling club.
3. The site selected cuts across and blocks a major and much used path /right of way crossing the Recreation Ground to Queens Park and Battlefield and Langside. In particular it is used by children to and from Holyrood School.
4. The whole of the recreation ground area is used by the Southside Festival, perforce displaced there as a result of the mine workings affecting the safety for mass use of other parts of Queen’s Park. Its immediate proximity to the Park enables easy linkage between events in the Park and Glasshouses and the recreation ground.
5. Further encroachment on this area will damage the viability and usefulness of the rest of the space and suggests a cavalier attitude to its parks and open spaces by a City Council which claims to wish to encourage community cohesion, healthy lifestyles and opportunities for young people.

Up-date……..
We’ll be posting an up-date shortly, once we have received further information on the proposals and what the local community can do about the plans. Have a look at http://www.writetothem.com/ which gives details on how to contact your local councillors.

http://southsidehappenings.blogspot.com/

Trump’s war on Menie continues.

hogben — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:51:01 +0000

Together we’ve won a key battle, but Trump’s war on Menie continues.

In the wake of our campaign success that ensured Donald Trump withdrew the threat of compulsory purchase orders over the families of Menie, the Scottish Government have now launched a consultation on the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs)*.

The government claim it is seeking to update guidance to local authorities and other organisations so that compulsory purchase orders ‘need not be a heavy-handed process‘**.

But we’ve commissioned a legal expert to review the government’s proposal and their key finding is that the goverment’s draft proposal encourages public authorities to use compulsory purchase more, and doesn’t adequately take into account the devastating effects it can have on someone’s home, family or business.

We can’t trust the government to ensure that the peoples’ voices are heard during this consultation.

We need to make our voices heard.

To save time and make it easy for you, our legal expert has prepared a pre-written email, below. Please feel free to add your own comments or alter the wording. Making it more personalised is a useful and important touch. And please don’t forget to add your name.

ACTION

Please cut and past the wording below and send it to CPOcircularconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk now.

And please let us know if you receive any response you feel we should be aware of. Many thanks.

It is vital that your voice is heard in the consultation.

Thank you so much for taking action to help safeguard the future of all our homes.

Please feel free to forward this email and encourage your friends to do the same.

More soon.

Menie thanks.

Tripping Up Trump

* Scottish Government’s consultation page. It’s long. Our legal expert has done the work for you.

**The Press & Journal’s spin reporting here.

NOW FOR THE BIT TO CUT, PASTE, PERSONALISE AND EMAIL:

TO (via email) : CPOcircularconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Ann Niven

Directorate for the Built Environment

Scottish Government

2J South Victoria Quay

Edinburgh

EH6 6QQ

Submission to Consultation on the Guidance on the Use of Compulsory Purchase

Please treat this as my response to the above consultation. I wish to make the following points about the draft circular:

It is not necessary to change anything at present; the Scottish Law Commission will examine the law of compulsory purchase in the next few years, and the Scottish Government should await their recommendations;
It does not define what a public interest is and how to distinguish between a private and a public interest.
If the circular is to be published, it should be altered to make it clear that a development such as the Trump development at Menie would never be considered to be something that would meet the public interest tests;
It does not properly respect the principles of sustainable development;
It should recognise that those living in an area are best placed to know what is best for the area;
It does not reflect the fear and upheaval that are caused by a proposal to compulsorily purchase land;
It does not prevent another situation like Menie happening again, where residents have been in fear for years that they would lose their homes;
It does not respect the rights of those who are subject to a compulsory purchase;
It encourages local authorities to use compulsory purchase more often; this is unfair as there is no scheme of legal aid to allow individuals to obtain detailed advice or representation before an inquiry into a compulsory purchase;
The draft is seriously deficient in respect of the proposal to resource public authorities with advice and expertise, ignoring those who most need advice – those facing losing their home or business.

In short, the draft circular encourages public authorities to use compulsory purchase more, but doesn’t adequately take into account the devastating effects it can have on someone’s home, family or business.

Revising the guidance on using compulsory purchase without considering the bigger picture is a mistake. The Scottish Law Commission will be looking at compulsory purchase in the next few years. This will look at all the issues, including how to ensure the process is fair to those most affected by a compulsory purchase, including the availability of advice.

Please acknowledge receipt of this consultation response and forward any responses to this email address.

Yours sincerely

YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS

Approval for hostile buy-out of Pairc Estate on Lewis

hogben — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:06:38 +0000

A community has moved closer to a hostile buy-out of a crofting estate on Lewis, in the Western Isles. The Scottish government has approved Pairc Community Trust’s bid to takeover the 26,800-acre (10,845-hectare) Pairc Estate.

Question mark over future of Stonehaven caravan park

hogben — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:53:59 +0000

Source

By Jenny Rush
Published on Monday 21 March 2011 12:25

A COUNCIL-run caravan park in Stonehaven could be sold to a commercial operator if no community body steps forward to take control, a report before councillors advises.

The Queen Elizabeth Caravan Park, and many other parks across Aberdeenshire, faces being sold off if there is no interest from community groups in taking over its running from the local authority.

As part of a programme of cuts across service areas, councillors on Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee will be asked today (Thursday) to approve the report, which states that the local authority should hand over the running of the parks to “new operators” by the autumn.

The report sets out a timescale for the process, with October being touted as the latest deadline by which long term lease agreements should be finalised with community bodies.

Officers say this will give the new management team time to prepare for the 2012 season.

Iain Gabriel, Director of Infrastructure Services, said: “While it may be possible to sell the majority of the sites, the work done to date suggests that most appropriate solution would be to offer the sites on a long term lease basis, for the purposes of operating a caravan park.

“Work will be required on the formulation of an appropriate lease structure. This will require transferring an appropriate amount of “risk” to the new operator, while retaining a degree of control to ensure that the council’s assets are protected in the longer term.

“Given the importance of the caravan parks to local communities, it has been assumed that the most advantageous arrangement is for some sort of community enterprise or trust to operate the caravan parks, rather than a “for profit” organisation.”

He added: “Should there be parks where there is no community enterprise interest or agreement is not reached, it will be necessary to consider the option of offering the parks for lease or sale on the open market.”

The report also states that there is a registered interest from two private parties who would be prepared to consider operating some or all the parks in the region on a commercial basis.

The Queen Elizabeth Caravan Park is situated on Common Good land and would therefore require a sheriff to issue a Common Good Order before it can be considered for sale or lease.

Secretary of the Stonehaven Town Partnership David Fleming said: “The fact that this land belongs to the Common Good Fund means that it is for the benefit of the people of Stonehaven in perpetuity. Whatever happens we need to maintain that.”

Meanwhile, the future of the town’s Tolbooth Museum remains unclear, although a spokesman for the council said that a reduction in the number of museums currently operated by the local authority is likely.

He said: “As part of the strategic review we are examining how effective our various museums are. One outcome of the review is likely to be a reduction in the number of museums we currently operate but no decisions have been made yet on the future of particular facilities.

“By reducing the number of small museums that are attracting limited numbers of visitors we would be able to free up some resources for improving outreach services and enabling more people to see and understand more about the artefacts that we have.

“We will, however, still need to retain our most successful museum buildings. A report on the strategic review of museums will be presented to councillors in future and until then no decision will be taken on the future of individual museums.”

Common good land sale decision deferred

hogben — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:59:14 +0000

THE final decision on a land sale opposed by the people of Forres has been deferred by Moray Council.

Members of the authority’s policy and resources committee made the decision to defer deciding whether to sell common good land near Bogton Road in north Forres at a meeting in Elgin on Tuesday following advice from officials.

A public consultation earlier this year saw 70% of respondents reject the idea but councillors were told the decision should be delayed until a report on the future of Moray’s economy has been completed.

This report – the Moray Economic Strategy – is due to be completed in May.

The land is part of the Common Good estate and comprises a field, children’s play park and a former Tesco supermarket on Gordon Road. Developers Redco Milne have proposed to build a retail development on the site.

Any money made for selling the land would be paid into the Common Good fund.

Members were told they should delay making their decision until they have a clearer picture of the Moray’s economic situation. All four Moray Council members for Forres – Lee Bell, Lorna Creswell, Jeff Hamilton and Irene Ogilvie – spoke in favour of deferral.

Gordon MacDonald (Buckie) asked why the issue should be deferred given the results of the consultation.

Members were then told rejecting an offer of inward investment could affect Moray’s economic future.

* A full report and the town’s reaction to the news will appear in next week’s ‘Forres Gazette’.