Cllr Angus MacCormack in his letter of 19th February argues that these councillors must therefor have opposed the Benbecula/Stornoway flights. This plainly preposterous interpretation is his most desperate and cowardly attempt yet to avoid responsibility for destroying inter-island transport. He employs the same misinformation methodology for his other four opposition points.
Not satisfied with that he goes on to deny that the air service is "lifeline". This callous disregard for the patients and their families denied this lifeline, is probably the most ruthless display yet by this Labour activist.
His bizarre diatribe on the budget setting process displays what might be considered remarkable ignorance of the democratic process. The process for agreement is arrived at by, an administration presenting its proposals to council, with the opposition offering "amendments". Indeed it is the recognised constitutional process for all democratic institutions. Cllr MacCormack considers bizarrely, that such amendments are "disrespectful"; even though this is primary purpose for such meetings being convened.
While poor Angus may be practiced at the black art of dissembling, he does not appear terribly skilled at it; whether he considers his efforts to be robust political debate or something rather more sinister requires further consideration.
His most striking assertion is in relation to the planning debate they insisted must be held in secret. My amendment asked for future applications to follow the letter of the law and the council's adopted Supplementary Guidance. Were the public to have insight into to the secret discussions, the reason for the amendment would be self-evident. Rather than accept a perfectly constitutional amendment which he concedes should be followed anyway, he chose to vote against it.
Events however, threaten to overtake his administration. Following receipt of information supportive of the approval of North Uist Community Turbine and, ultimately, the decision of the Comhairle to approve the application notwithstanding the objection of the MoD, Angus MacNeil MP questioned the Secretary of State for Defence who confirmed that in November 2013 the MoD had signed a contract for the upgrade of the air defence radar at Benbecula. A regional newspaper has also published that the new "windfarm-friendly" radar technology is to be introduced at Benbecula sister radar station at RAF Buchan near Peterhead. The new facilities are described as having been proven in other areas where they have been installed to mitigate the effects of wind turbines on radar capability.
This particularly relevant information totally contradicts the stated position of the MoD to the Comhairle at mid November 3013, and indeed, is replicated again in legal papers that have recently been served on some of our constituents. The administration while espousing a desire to secure greater autonomy in its decision making processes clearly is inadequately advised despite the fact that Cllr Angus Campbell as the Leader of the Hebridean Range Task Force welcomed the MoD's capital investment programme which included this radar upgrade.
The Comhairle was, with the benefit of hindsight, or perhaps, foresight if the detail of the MoD's capital investment programme was made known to the Chair of the Task-force, quite right to move for the approval of the North Uist Community Turbine application together with the other five applications which have now become embroiled in expensive and un-necessary legal procedures and quite wrong in not defending its position in the face of the MoD's repeated contradictory information.
What is clearly missing from Angus MacCormack's simplistic understanding of his responsibilities is that the interests of all the people we are elected to serve must take priority in all our decision making processes. We are not here as a Council to be fed inaccurate or misleading information. When, as an Administration, this council steps outside the four corners of the legislation the mess we now face not to mention the cost of having to deal with it will be a reoccurring feature and one which I am totally committed to avoiding if at all possible. It is unfortunate that Angus MacCormack's grasp of the detail of the situation under discussion is clearly sufficiently inadequate to found any meaningful comment let alone one exposed to public scrutiny.
Sincerely
Donald Manford.
His most striking assertion is in relation to the planning debate they insisted must be held in secret. My amendment asked for future applications to follow the letter of the law and the council's adopted Supplementary Guidance. Were the public to have insight into to the secret discussions, the reason for the amendment would be self-evident. Rather than accept a perfectly constitutional amendment which he concedes should be followed anyway, he chose to vote against it.
Events however, threaten to overtake his administration. Following receipt of information supportive of the approval of North Uist Community Turbine and, ultimately, the decision of the Comhairle to approve the application notwithstanding the objection of the MoD, Angus MacNeil MP questioned the Secretary of State for Defence who confirmed that in November 2013 the MoD had signed a contract for the upgrade of the air defence radar at Benbecula. A regional newspaper has also published that the new "windfarm-friendly" radar technology is to be introduced at Benbecula sister radar station at RAF Buchan near Peterhead. The new facilities are described as having been proven in other areas where they have been installed to mitigate the effects of wind turbines on radar capability.
This particularly relevant information totally contradicts the stated position of the MoD to the Comhairle at mid November 3013, and indeed, is replicated again in legal papers that have recently been served on some of our constituents. The administration while espousing a desire to secure greater autonomy in its decision making processes clearly is inadequately advised despite the fact that Cllr Angus Campbell as the Leader of the Hebridean Range Task Force welcomed the MoD's capital investment programme which included this radar upgrade.
The Comhairle was, with the benefit of hindsight, or perhaps, foresight if the detail of the MoD's capital investment programme was made known to the Chair of the Task-force, quite right to move for the approval of the North Uist Community Turbine application together with the other five applications which have now become embroiled in expensive and un-necessary legal procedures and quite wrong in not defending its position in the face of the MoD's repeated contradictory information.
What is clearly missing from Angus MacCormack's simplistic understanding of his responsibilities is that the interests of all the people we are elected to serve must take priority in all our decision making processes. We are not here as a Council to be fed inaccurate or misleading information. When, as an Administration, this council steps outside the four corners of the legislation the mess we now face not to mention the cost of having to deal with it will be a reoccurring feature and one which I am totally committed to avoiding if at all possible. It is unfortunate that Angus MacCormack's grasp of the detail of the situation under discussion is clearly sufficiently inadequate to found any meaningful comment let alone one exposed to public scrutiny.
Sincerely
Donald Manford.
