Councillors refuse to be rushed

COUNCILLORS complained they were being treated with contempt after being given just 48 hours to consume 300 pages of reports.

On Wednesday Shetland Islands Council’s social services committee broke up after protests from members about the short time they were being given to digest 12 separate reports.

The rebellion began with North Isles member Gary Cleaver asking for the meeting to be postponed, saying he had only received his thick wad of agenda papers on Monday.

It emerged that the electronic version was not available on the SIC website for several days because of technical problems.

Shetland South member Billy Fox then complained of a “contemptuous attitude” towards councillors, who had to make informed decisions about sometimes complex and controversial issues.

On Wednesday they were being asked, amongst other things, to approve a strategic plan for housing investment, advise on budget cuts, consider and comment on plans to reshape elderly care, review community planning and development and deal with a complaint.

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Fox said councillors had a duty to their electorate to not only read the papers, but to digest them sufficiently to form an opinion, which might involve discussing individual reports with officers.

“I feel particularly uncomfortable being asked to make decisions on a number of items on the agenda,” he said.

His sentiments were shared by Amanda Westlake and Theo Smith, while Allan Wishart was sufficiently dubious to call for legal advice.

Senior law officer Jan Riise said it was presumed that members had read the papers once they were issued and it was up to the committee chairman Cecil Smith to decide whether to proceed.

Vice chairman Allison Duncan moved that they go ahead, saying he had managed to make time to read the reports.

But after adjourning the meeting for half an hour to discuss the way forward with senior staff, the chairman accepted councillors’ concerns and adjourned until 2pm next Monday.

Only last month councillors adjourned a meeting of the education and families committee after complaining they had not been given enough time to read a progress report on the £42 million Anderson High School project.