Highland Council’s SNP group has accused the authority’s “rainbow” administration of not doing enough to help fishing, farming and other land-use industries in the region.
The group, which shared power with the Independents until June this year, is demanding that the new administration, which consists of the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Independent groups, gives more priority to fishing, farming, forestry and crofting issues.
It pointed out yesterday that the natural resources (land and environment) working group had not met since May and the new committee would not meet for the first time until mid-October, a gap of five months since the last meeting of the previous committee.
SNP councillor George Farlow, who is one of the members for the North, West and Central Sutherland ward, said: “The Lib Dem, Labour and Independent parties administration at Highland Council is failing spectacularly in its promise to pay more attention to land resource and marine issues in the Highlands.”
He added that it could have simply kept the old working group going until the new committee was ready.
Mr Farlow also pointed out that the administration’s paid political leader, Dr Michael Foxley, had promised there would be a much greater emphasis on environmental matters under the new administration.
“The setting up of the land, environment and sustainability strategy (LESS) group was supposed to herald that, but they have simply achieved nothing – that really is less,” said Mr Farlow.
And SNP councillor Drew Hendry, who represents Aird and Loch Ness, said they had repeatedly warned the administration that it needed to treat these matters with urgency, but it had not listened.
“The last natural resources working group meeting was in early May – and the new LESS group will only have its first meeting halfway through October. This means a whole summer will have passed without the elected members of council – other than the SNP – discussing any detail on farming, fishing and natural resource matters. That is unacceptable,” said Mr Hendry.
Liberal Democrat councillor Dr Foxley, who is the authority’s new leader, denied yesterday the suggestion that the administration was not paying enough attention to natural-resource issues.
He said: “What we have put in place is a full committee of 22 members, which will meet in public on a regular basis, instead of a tiny eight-member working group, which met in private on an irregular basis.”
Dr Foxley said he was personally disappointed that the LESS committee had not managed to hold its first meeting sooner, but stressed that a lot of work had been done in the meantime.