Council bosses have announced they will re-run a community council election amid uncertainty about the original result.
In August, members of Peterhead Community Council were asked to submit nomination forms if they wanted to be considered for the elections. New members were also invited to join.
By the end of the nomination process, it was declared that 11 local residents had put their names forward – enough to form a quo-rate group, but not so many that a competitive election was needed.
However local activist Stephen Calder – a community council member – questioned the result and accused Aberdeenshire Council of “skullduggery”.
Following a week-long internal investigation by the local authority’s legal team, it has been revealed only seven nominations
were received by the closing date, despite the returning officer’s declaration.
Mr Calder said: “They need to issue a public notice with the results of the August election. They haven’t issued an apology or an explanation of what went wrong. The returning officer said there were 11 duly nominated candidates, but two days later
four applicants were still filling in their forms after the closing date for nominations.”
The Kirk Street resident was so angry about what he called a “mismanaged process” that he took the matter up with
Aberdeenshire Council co-leader Richard Thomson and chief executive Jim Savege.
“They’re re-running the election, that’s good, but I’ve not got a response to what action the council is taking to resolve what went wrong,” Mr Calder added.
Last night Aberdeenshire Council spokeswoman said: “The quorum for the establishment of a community council in Peterhead is 10 and only seven nominations were received within the nomination period.
“We recommend that the nomination procedure therefore be run again and Aberdeenshire Council will continue to provide support and advice to ensure a community council can be properly established.”
Community councils in Scotland give a voice to residents, and are involved in campaigning to improve the local area as well as supporting or objecting to planning applications.
Aberdeenshire Council will confirm a closing date for nomination forms shortly.