Councillors raise serious concerns about Highland Council staff during meeting
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AN explosive meeting of Highland Council’s audit and scrutiny committee saw a number of councillors accuse the local authority of “intimidation and harassment” of elected members.
The committee was due to consider an audit into the appointment of Paul Senior as an education consultant which cost the council more than £70,000 for three months’ work – but a number of councillors slammed the audit report for blaming members’ behaviour for Mr Senior’s early departure from the council.
Their anger was sparked by claims they may be in breach of a code of conduct and they went on to say that pressure and threats of disciplinary action by unelected officials are intended to impede scrutiny.
Fort William and Ardnamurchan Councillor Andrew Baxter said: “There has been a reaction, I’m afraid, from the Highland Council bureaucracy of intimidation of councillors – in essence to tell them to ‘shut up, move on, you should not be mentioning these issues’.
“So I am somewhat disappointed that there is no mention of the pressure that is being put on councillors that are undertaking their duty of scrutiny.”
Thurso and Northwest Caithness Councillor Struan Mackie said: “I go back to Cllr Baxter’s point around the culture and I feel incredibly hesitant to scrutinise officer performance.
“I think it has to work both ways and there has to be an understanding by officers and the executive leadership team, that scrutiny is expected and we are expected to do it by our constituents.”
Inverness Ness-side Councillor Ron MacWilliam claimed he had personally been subjected to intimidation, saying: “All 74 councillors are in the dock as a result of this report and that’s what it’s intended to do – it is innuendo and it relates entirely to the culture problem, which I have, I believe, myself been victim to and I’ve seen others have been victims too.
“I believe firmly that there is a culture of intimidation and harassment at Highland Council, particularly when it comes to elected members.”
Audit and scrutiny committee chairman Graham Mackenzie said: “It was deeply disappointing because as I tried to point out it wasn’t about the decisions that were made it was about the process that had taken place. If people were being critical then they were being critical of the independent auditors both internal and external.”
The council paid £936 a day for Mr Senior, who was appointed after two unsuccessful attempts to find a permanent head of education.
