A senior Highland councillor has claimed the Cairngorms National Park is trying to force him to resign over a planning row.
Bill Lobban, who represents Badenoch and Strathspey, says he is being forced to give up his place on the park board after voicing a personal opinion that planning matters for the area should be dealt with by Highland Council rather than the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA).
The councillor, who serves as vice-convener of the council, claimed he was approached at a meeting last week by CNPA convener Peter Argyle and told to “consider” his position.
Mr Argyle, a councillor in Aberdeenshire, denied that Mr Lobban had been asked to resign but said CNPA board members were expected to abide by park policy, regardless of personal views.
SNP councillor Mr Lobban said: “During the debate on Highland Council’s response to the ongoing Scottish Government consultation into the planning system I reiterated my long-held view that planning in Badenoch and Strathspey should be dealt with by the democratically elected council as it is elsewhere in the Highlands.
“This is a view I have held long before I was elected to represent Badenoch and Strathspey as a member of Highland Council and long before I was appointed to the board of the Cairngorms National Park Authority by that same council.”
He said that his opinion is not a reflection on the effectiveness of CNPA planning staff who he said he holds in “high regard”.
Mr Lobban said he was approached by Mr Argyle during a planning meeting last Friday and asked to “consider my position” – which he took as a “polite way of asking for my resignation”.
Mr Lobban added: “When I told him that I had no intention of resigning he then informed me that steps, which I later found out were discussed in private at a meeting earlier in the day, involving a report to the ‘Standards Commission’ would be taken to remove me from the board.
“My allegiance is and always will be to the people of Badenoch & Strathspey and that representing them as a Highland councillor takes precedence over everything else.
“I was pleased to receive advice today from Highland Council totally contradicting Mr Argyle’s position.”
Mr Argyle said: “Councillor Lobban most certainly has not been asked to resign from the CNPA board.
“The Scottish Government is consulting at the moment on the future of the Scottish planning system; the park authority board discussed the review last year and called for consideration to be given to changing the way planning works in the national park.
“As a member of the CNPA Board there is an expectation that policy lines are adopted by all members, irrespective of their personal viewpoint on the matter”
