Could CAB mess happen again? Nairn councillors raise concerns at Highland Council audit and scrutiny meeting
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NAIRN councillors have raised concerns over the circulation of a watchdog report finding significant failures in the Highland Council’s decision-making process.
A decision notice published by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman in February – which we reported on previously – ruled that the local authority failed to “follow correct procedure” when allocating nearly £200,000 from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund to the construction of the new CAB building on King Street.
It further stated that the council’s decision-making process “lacked transparency” and that there was no public record as to how the decision to recommend the CAB project was reached.
The ombudsman required the council to send an apology to the complainant as well as ensuring that the reasons for decision-making are made “publicly available in the form of meeting agendas and minutes”.
Findings of the investigations should have also been fed back to individuals involved.
However, Nairn councillors have raised concerns after members of the current area committee were provided only with the summary of the report.
At a recent audit and scrutiny meeting, Councillor Paul Oldham complained that members had not been given the full report and that in Nairn and Cawdor “decisions were being made out of the public gaze”.
He said: “This is an unfortunate incident for Nairn and the only real positive is that we have gained more social housing and a new CAB, which is good.
“How can we expect members to learn from this episode if the full decision notice has not been circulated to members?”
Provost of Nairn, Laurie Fraser, said: “I feel that the whole thing was done behind our backs.
“We were never given the opportunity to challenge it because it never appeared at an area committee meeting. The only option to challenge it was when it came to planning.”
Councillor Barbara Jarvie said: “How can this be a scrutinising committee when we have not been presented with the full report?
“Without this document getting sight and proper scrutiny and a thorough discussion, the mistake will be made again.”
Interim chief executive at Highland Council, Kate Lackie, replied that procedure was followed and that the council had met the requirements of the SPSO’s report.
She said: “The Ombudsman – an independent body – came to the conclusion that decisions were made in the appropriate forum and what was found is that we were not able to evidence sufficiently that that was the case.
“In this particular case there was very little time available for projects to be identified and for the funding to be spent in a timeframe that was required without us having to hand that funding back, and that’s why the strategic committee was set up.”
She said this had changed as subsequent rounds of funding were provided.
“There is definitely learning that will be taken from that to make sure we can give assurance to the public that decisions are being taken in the appropriate place according to our scheme of delegation,” she said.
“The practice is what we followed for all Ombudsman reports before, which is to circulate the Ombudsman’s own summary and provide the ability for those who want to have a look at the whole case.”
A Highland Council spokesperson added that the report has not been published on the SPSO’s website yet and that this will be shared once that becomes available.
Nairn councillors also expressed their intention to find a route to allow action notes from ward business meetings to be made publicly available.
