Highland Council in a 'pickle' over review of multimillion-pound Caley Thistle project
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Highland Council is in a “pickle” over the review into Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s battery storage project that was launched by two councillors and then supported by 28 others.
That was the word used by a KC for Caley Thistle summing up the impending vote at full council that heavily restricts who can take part to effectively redo an earlier vote amid an ongoing legal challenge.
The two councillors at the heart of the call for a review were in fact the members in charge of ensuring that scrutiny at the planning committee went smoothly in conjunction with officials.
The pair – Cllrs Thomas MacLennan and Paul Oldham – lost the vote before deciding they were “uncomfortable with the way the was decided” and writing to other councillors looking for support for a review.
In that email, Cllr Oldham said: “It's not a good look for the council when so few of us make such an important decision, especially as only one of us was from an Inverness ward and none from the ward in question.”
Yet just 10 of the currently sitting 22 Inverness councillors backed the move.
So what happens now?
In principle the vote could be open to all councillors. There should be 74 but one has just resigned, another has been suspended so the total eligible to vote will be a maximum of 72
That number will be further reduced because this is a planning matter so only members who “have completed the planning training” – that will whittle it down even further.
A number of councillors are also likely to be excluded because they are season ticket holders at Caley Thistle or otherwise connected to the club.
Whether councillors who are fans of Caley Thistle's Highland rivals Ross County remains unclear.
Who backed the review?
Here is the list of those backing the idea of a review, which, to be clear, means only that they support holding a review.
Given the concerns about the lack of Inverness councillors voting on an Inverness planning application, those from the city are highlighted in bold.
Just 10 of the 30 are Inverness councillors with their numbers next to the party name.
The SNP: Six
Paul Oldham, Nairn and Cawdor; Michael Cameron, Inverness Central; Tamala Collier, Cromarty Firth; Kate MacLean, Inverness Central; Drew Millar, Skye; Ken Gowans, Inverness South; Ian Brown, Inverness Millburn; Glynis Campbell-Sinclair, Culloden and Ardersier; Marianne Hutchison, North, West and Central Sutherland; Chris Birt, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh; Liz Kraft, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh; Sarah Fanet, Fort William and Ardnamurchan; Emma Knox, Aird and Loch Ness.
The Lib Dems: Two
Alasdair Christie, Inverness Ness-side; Richard Gale, East Sutherland and Edderton; Angus MacDonald, Fort William and Ardnamurchan; Trish Robertson, Culloden and Ardersier; John Grafton, Caol and Mallaig.
Four Independents: Zero
Thomas MacLennan, Fort William and Ardnamurchan; Sarah Atkin, Black Isle; Sean Kennedy, Dingwall and Seaforth; Calum Munro, Skye.
Three Conservatives: One
Barbara Jarvie, Nairn and Cawdor; Liz Saggers, Caol and Mallaig; Andrew Sinclair, Inverness South.
Three Greens: One
Chris Ballance, Aird and Loch Ness; Kate Willis, Fort William and Ardnamurchan; Andrew Baldrey, Caol and Mallaig Ward.
The Highland Alliance: Zero
Matthew Reiss, Thurso and Northwest Caithness; Andrew Jarvie, Wick and East Caithness.
Where does that leave us?
It is far from clear but the council's head of legal and democratic services, Stewart Fraser, may well have his work cut out.
He will have to determine which councillors have had planning training – that could be upwards of 48 currently available to the two planning committees.
However, there could be more as some councillors in the past may have had the training but not sit on planning committees, a further question would be if that training is up to date.
Mr Fraser will also have to rely on councillors to volunteer information about whether they are supporters of Caley Thistle – and even Ross County.
He will be doing all this while Caley Thistle is seeking to get answers about whether or not the process has been undertaken to bring the review was correct or not.
And that is before one word or vote cast about the substantial issue at hand. A pickle indeed and critics say it is "not a good look for the council."
