Road upgrade chat ban sparks ‘insult’ claims
The leader of Renfrewshire Council has been accused of ‘insulting’ residents by banning discussion on upgrading a busy road.
Independent Councillor Andy Doig has taken aim at Councillor Iain Nicolson, who said bringing up the subject of building a dual carriageway on the A737 between Dalry/Beith and Kilbarchan/Howwood was irrelevant.
Councillor Doig attempted to make an amendment to a report at the recent Leadership Board, asking that the board call on the Scottish Government “to commit itself to the dualling and upgrade of the A737 between Dalry/ Beith and Kilbarchan both on economic development and health and safety grounds.” He requested the amendment be included in a report that asked councillors to welcome the preparation of the first Economic Strategy for Renfrewshire, accept an invitation to adopt the strategy and note its official launch date.
However, after it was ruled not relevant, an angry Councillor Doig, who represents Johnstone North and the villages, said: “This is an insult to the people of Howwood to whom Councillor Nicolson should apologise.
“If Councillor Nicolson had bothered to read the foreword to the Renfrewshire Economic Strategy, which he apparently wrote, he would have noticed that he declared that ‘ in the economic infrastructure of Renfrewshire we need to continue to further advance the progress already being made’.
“Councillor Nicolson is obviously happy to talk the talk, but cannot walk the walk.
“The ban on discussion today on the upgrade of the A737 was really an insult to the intelligence of members of the Leadership Board.
“Clause 1.5 of the introduction to the report noted that the Economic Leadership Panel, which Councillor Nicolson convenes, merely commended the report to the board and did not instruct the board to accept the report.
“The people of Johnstone and the villages, particularly the people of Howwood, have the right to know does the refusal to allow debate on the A737 mean the SNP government is actually asking Howwood to wait a decade until the upgrade of the A737?”
Councillor Nicolson responded by claiming “the rules are very clear”.
He said: “Elected members move amendments all the time and, indeed, the councillor did so at this meeting and one was agreed.
“The rules are very clear, amendments must be relevant to the item on the agenda, if it isn’t then, the convener can refuse it.
“On this occasion, it was the wrong amendment on the wrong report at the wrong council meeting.
“It was made very clear to the councillor that the report was produced by our business community and was not a council document.
“We have a lot of excellent working relationships with outside bodies and different reports are produced by them which the council is asked to accept and adopt — this is one of them.
“It is extremely disrespectful to try and trample over their good work just to score political points.
“The issue of the A737 has already been discussed by the council and has had all party support.
“It is a road which is under the control of the Scottish Government , not Renfrewshire
Council.”