Protesters urged to ‘shop’ city council to watchdog

hundreds of Aberdonians turn out at rally to condemn service cuts

By Calum Ross

Published:

PROTEST: Ice Users Group members – from left, Rebecca Young, Nathan Armstrong, Jack Manson, and Macauley Armstrong – attended the rally. Kevin Emslie

SCHOOL’S OUT: Victoria Road School parent council members Vicki Walsh, left, and Lisa Harrison with Elli McKenzie. Kevin Emslie

The people of Aberdeen were yesterday urged to get in touch with a powerful watchdog to air their views on the way the under-fire city council is being run.

The call came amid tears of anger, as hundreds of locals gathered for a rally in protest at the local authority’s controversial decision to slash its budget by £27million.

Sports and leisure facilities and services for vulnerable people are all facing massive funding cuts, and a reduction in spending on education could see dozens of teachers lose their jobs.

The outcry at last month’s decision prompted the Accounts Commission of Scotland to take the unusual step of ordering a public hearing into the reasons for the city’s “precarious” financial state.

The move is the first of its kind for a Scottish city council, and will see council leaders and top officials grilled under oath in public, with the possibility of outside consultants being brought in to effectively run the city.

Aberdeen Labour MP Frank Doran yesterday urged the crowd of over 300 to tell the watchdog of their dissatisfaction with the council.

“We want everybody who came to the meeting to make their views known to the Accounts Commission,” he said after the rally. “We don’t want councillors and officers trying to bamboozle everyone with figures.

“These councillors were elected to look after these people and have turned their backs on them.”

The ex-lawyer is preparing to take legal action against the council over a perceived lack of consultation with the disabled groups affected.

Among those at the rally was Amelia Leys, 61, who lives with her Downs syndrome son Roger Cunningham, 37, in Craigievar Crescent. She told of his distress at the closure of the Aye Can recycling project for disabled people. “He was sobbing his heart out on his bed. They’re not only losing their place of work, they’re losing their friends. Aberdeen’s known as a city in bloom, now it’s going to be a city in gloom.”

SNP depute council leader, Kevin Stewart, criticised Mr Doran for urging ordinary members of the public to contact the watchdog.

“This hearing is dealing with matters between November 2006 and January 2007 and the report done then when the council’s finances were described as ‘precarious’,” he said. “The budget has set that right and Frank’s lot has not come up with an alternative.”

Referring to the Accounts Commission inquiry, he said: “I have absolutely nothing to fear by this at all.”

Although all political groups have welcomed the inquiry, all will privately fear what could emerge. The council was run by the Lib Dems and Tories before last May’s election, and Labour before 2003. The ruling coalition is now Lib Dem-SNP.

The Accounts Commission called the inquiry after considering a critical Audit Scotland review of the council’s performance between November 2006 and January 2007, which identified low staff morale and a culture opposed to change. Ken Dinwoodie, who worked at the council between 1996 and 2003 and was assistant director of human resources, recognised the picture painted in the report.

“If you look at the report there is an awful lot of things familiar to me,” he said.

“The council has not pursued best value for money that vigorously or with any commitment, and has avoided taking tough decisions over the years.”

He pointed to a refurbishment of Bon Accord Baths costing tens of thousands of pounds, months before the decision to close it.

“There’s a lack of planning,” said Mr Dinwoodie. “I think there will be a lot of pain come out of this, but hopefully a lot of good will come out of it as well.”

Tory councillor Jim Farquharson, a former human resources manager with a large oil company, said: “If this council was a business, the shareholders would have had a vote of no confidence in the whole board.”

The rally at Aberdeen Arts Centre had been dismissed by administration councillors as a Labour political stunt, but those affected insisted they were not playing politics.

Hilda Meers, 84, of Gram-pian Senior Citizens Forum, said: “The people who have got the least income and most difficulties are supposed to pay. I intend to get myself down Union Street on April 5 for the cuts protest march – whatever the weather.”