Fort councillors seek changes to rules to prevent repeat of row

Community councillors from the Fort William area have now asked Highland Council to examine how the Scheme of Establishment for such bodies can be amended in an attempt to prevent a repeat of recent behaviour that saw one member banned from attending meetings.

 

Giving his chairman's address to the annual general meeting last month of Fort William, Inverlochy and Torlundy Community Council, Mark Linfield said no community councils should have to put up with the behaviour he and his fellow councillors had endured in the spring.

 

It was back in April that an acrimonious exchange at the online meeting of the community council saw Community Councillor Mark Drayton banned from attending further meetings.

 

Highland Council officials later informed the community council it had been within its rights to take the action it did against Mr Drayton after accusations of unacceptable behaviour.

 

"attachment_694571" "" "291"] Community councillor Mark Drayton. Photograph: Iain Ferguson, alba.photos
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Mr Drayton was accused of sending emails containing derogatory comments to, amongst others, candidates for May's council elections and several of his fellow councillors threatened to quit due to the row.

 

Mr Linfield told the June AGM: 'On the subject of our community council being more visible, I feel I must mention our past year, as we are now more visible than we have been for a long time.

 

'I’m not naming names but a certain community councillor ensured that we were in the local headlines a number of times.

 

'A positive from this is that many more residents are now aware of us and will hopefully start to engage more with us.

 

'It has been tough dealing with the behaviour; we have now written to Highland Council asking they examine how the Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils can be amended before next year’s elections.

 

'No community councils, their contacts or residents should have to put up with the behaviour we have experienced.'

 

Mr Linfield also explained that the autumn will see the start of the final year of this particular make-up of the community council and he urged members to make it a positive one.

 

And he added: 'This will be our last virtual meeting and after our summer recess we will return to face-to-face meetings, with an option for people to join online or by telephone.

 

'I believe we ought to be holding our meetings at different venues in the area we cover - Claggan, Town, Inverlochy, Plantation, Upper Achintore and Torlundy - to make ourselves more visible and accessible. Something for people to consider during our summer recess.'

 

Mr Linfield also flagged up the restart this year of both the Plantation Community Association and Claggan Residents Association and that these should be supported.

 

'We continue to be involved with the hospital stakeholder group, Nevis Landscape Partnership, Fort William festive lights and Linnhe Community Alliance,' he continued.

 

'Soon, we will be representing residents' views at the FW2040 Transport Stakeholders’ Group and FW2040 Community Stakeholders’ Group.

 

'I recently had a great meeting with Martin Culbertson, FW2040 project manager. There are exciting times ahead for our High Street with many people working towards

 

improving this area over the next few years. We will need to be involved and ensure that residents' opinions are considered.

 

'In the past 12 months we had meetings with Mary and Rachel, Highlife Highland youth workers, and also with Mark Ewen of Nevis Centre , about facilities for youngsters in our area.

 

'I cannot stress enough how important I think it is that we engage with our young people more. It would be fantastic if we could get some young people attending our meetings, any ideas how to do this are welcome.'

 

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Community council chairman Mark Linfield. Photograph: Iain Ferguson, alba.photos NO F17 Mark Linfield 02

 

 

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Community councillor Mark Drayton. Photograph: Iain Ferguson, alba.photos

 

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