Council shuts down scrutiny of Oban Bay bid again, by refusing to release 'secret report'

Councillors on the Harbour Board unanimously decided in 2021 to launch a bid to manage all of Oban Bay, one of Scotland’s busiest harbours. Officers are drafting a Harbour Revision Order (HRO) for the Scottish Government to assent. The board’s eight elected members are responsible for directing policy to officers and scrutinising implementation. 

Frustrated by a lack of progress reports since January, when a consultation received more than 100 objections, and spying no update on the agenda for the last Harbour Board meeting on September 12, councillor Andrew Vennard, Conservative, Oban North and Lorn, sought to get it added as an item for discussion, just a day before the council’s written representation was due to be submitted to Transport Scotland. 

After the board’s chairperson, councillor Ross Moreland, Liberal Democrat, Dunoon, refused, councillor Vennard tried again to get the matter discussed, this time as an urgent motion calling for an extra meeting a few weeks later, to disclose and discuss a secret briefing note that officers gave councillors on September 11. 

Again councillor Moreland refused, arguing the item was not urgent, and would be included on the agenda of the next quarterly board meeting before Christmas. So councillor Vennard tried again, this time via a motion at the full council meeting on September 26, again calling for an extra Harbour Board meeting a few weeks later to note and consider the confidential briefing note. 

Again this was defeated by councillors from the administration, when they voted 22 to 10 in favour of councillor Moreland’s own amendment, asking the council to note the “significant works” on the HRO and that the matter now sits with Transport Scotland. 

Speaking to his motion, councillor Vennard said: “The last time the harbour board met on this was in January. There have been a substantial number of objections, in excess of 100, on the harbour revision order.

“The natural process requires scrutiny and periodic reports and the opportunity for council members to scrutinise the decisions of the council.

“For that reason, the motion is being proposed. It is not willing to discuss matters in public. It is making decisions in secret and that is a view of the council we do not want to see.

“It does not project the council in a positive light. We should always have the confidence in explaining our decisions and have the opportunity to scrutinise and ask questions.”

Councilor Moreland backed his amendment by saying: “There has been a very large amount of engagement on the harbour revision order by officers and councillors, especially by councillor Andrew Kain, Independent, Oban South and the Isles, my predecessor as chairperson.

“If there is any massive issue, we can deal with it at the time. The amendment also calls for a meeting this year instead of next, to deal with the financial impact raised.”

Councillor Kain then said: “There has been more transparency on this subject than anything I have been involved in in my life. The amount of officer and harbour board time taken up is extraordinary.

“If you did a freedom of information request as to the cost of it, it would be beyond anything else I have seen on this council. This has been addressed again and again.

“I am surprised at councillor Vennard, as he was vice chairman of the harbour board when this was initiated.

“But I cannot see how any more time on this could be to anybody’s advantage. The harbour board is dealing with it very effectively.”