Perth and Kinross Council changes needed "at the top"

Dec 1 2009

A LOCAL businessman has called for changes at the top of Perth and Kinross Council, claiming many senior officers have amassed “far too much power.”

And Peter Hounam has urged the Scottish Government to step in and investigate what he has branded “a sad state of affairs.”

Mr Hounam, of Grandtully, is also backing former chief executive Jim Cormie who called in Friday’s PA for a top level probe into the local authority’s mishandling of the Shore Road incinerator planning bid.

In a hard-hitting letter to this newspaper, Mr Hounam states: “Mr Cormie should not be alone in demanding changes at the top of Perth and Kinross Council for what he sees as ‘rank incompetence’ in the handling of the incinerator controversy.

“He rightly puts the blame on some senior council officials for making a catalogue of blunders and ignoring the views of the voters to which they are supposedly responsible.

“Taking into account that other local humiliation, the City Hall redevelopment, the people of Perth must realise how atrociously we are being governed.

“Sadly this is something rural parts of the county have long realised but have felt powerless to do anything about. “

He explained he has been a resident of the county for more than 10 years and has started a business, Legends of Grandtully, in Highland Perthshire.

Before that he was a national newspaper journalist for most of his adult life, including a long spell as an investigative reporter on The Sunday Times.

“In that time I covered local government controversies all over the UK and I can honestly say I have never experienced a worse example than Perth and Kinross Council of an authority that has lost its way.

“Here in Highland Perthshire we have experienced similar arrogance, incompetence and bull-headed refusal to back down in respect of the Etape Caledonia Cycle Race.

“In this instance too there was a serious failure to consult local opinion. Binding decisions to finance the event and close 80 miles of our roads were taken in a manner that can only be described as anti-democratic.

“We have now been saddled with this thing for five years on the basis of economic arguments that cannot possibly be true.”

Mr Hounam claimed that elsewhere in the county there are “equally glaring examples of maladministration.”

He explained: “The wishes of the people of Scone are being ignored over huge development plans.

“Inappropriate development in Kinross led to one senior councillor resigning. This could all be simply a series of coincidences if it was not for one crucial factor.

“It is evident to me that in P&K, many senior officers have simply amassed far too much power. They are not being held to account by the people we elect – our local councillors.

“In no other part of the country have I met councillors so cowed by the people they should be controlling.

“One even confided in me that if he complained he was threatened with losing some of his allowances – so he stopped complaining.

“The Scottish Government should step in and investigate this sad state of affairs – otherwise we will be living under a local oligarchy rather than a local democracy.”

Council leader, Councillor Ian Miller, said yesterday he didn’t want to “comment at length” on the points raised by Mr Hounam.

“In respect of Etape Caledonia, Mr Hounam has made comments repeatedly on behalf of ACRE in the past in a misleading and inaccurate manner.

“There has been extensive community consultation about the event and the success of Etape can be evidenced by the significant economic impact resulting from it for the Highland Perthshire area, amounting to almost £1m this year, and the support for it shown by the local community.

“In respect of his other comments, he may not be aware that the council has regularly received positive assessments of the services it provides to the citizens of Perth and Kinross from national bodies, for example Audit Scotland, HMIe and the Care Commission.

“I believe that this record speaks clearly for itself."