A culture of secrecy

Why are the decisions of Ward Business Meetings still not being published?

Yesterday our regional MSP Emma Roddick, who’s also still a councillor until May, posted this to Twitter and I think it’s worth discussing as it highlights something that’s currently very wrong at Highland Council.

So what’s this all about? Well democracy relies on openness and transparency to work. 

On a global international scale we need to know about the meetings that Boris Johnson has had with Russian oligarchs so we can tell just whose interests he is protecting.

At a local level we should be able to see what Ward Business Meetings - forums where all the councillors representing one Highland ward regularly meet to make very local decisions and which are not open to the public - are deciding to do with our money. This decision by Highland Council to refuse to publish the results of meetings that have direct consequences for constituents is appalling. Why would anyone want to keep it secret which youth club gets a grant, what bench gets replaced, or where a new bin will be sited?

Here in Nairn we’re currently in the bizarre situation that our community councillors are being forced to get access to the information via Freedom of Information requests. So we do find out what was decided, but we find out a month or so late, well after the decision has been made.

You’d think that our current Highland Councillors might support more openness but I watched the debate and Cllr Laurie Fraser spoke against Emma’s motion and so presumably voted against it too. I don’t know for certain how the other two voted, if at all, as I didn’t see either but you might like to ask them if you bump into them.

Anyway rest assured that this isn’t the policy of the SNP group and a vote for me and my SNP colleagues in May is a vote to ensure you get the information you need in future.