Convener a no-show at meeting
Photographer was on a job
Councillor Angus Forbes A councillor has been criticised for failing to turn up to lead a committee meeting last week.
Cllr Angus Forbes, who has recently been appointed as convener of environment and infrastructure at Perth and Kinross Council, was due to lead his very first committee meeting on Wednesday, March 21.
However, the Carse of Gowrie representative was unable to attend his first meeting in charge, as he was covering a wedding as a professional wedding photographer.
Vice-convener Cllr Mike Barnacle was left to chair the meeting in Cllr Forbes’s place.
This has been criticised by the SNP councillors on the committee, who questioned his absence at the beginning of the meeting.
Cllr Dave Doogan, leader of the SNP at Perth and Kinross Council said: “I and other members of the committee are rightly shocked that the new convener of this committee simply didn’t show up for this, his first meeting, to discuss the state of our roads.
“Committees are the key element within the council whereby the administration’s actions are presented and scrutinised by councillors and this process must be facilitated by the convener.
“Becoming a convener is not something any councillor undertakes lightly and it is most definitely not a responsibility which anyone should undertake subject to their other diary commitments.
“The apparent ‘I’ll be there if I can’ approach by such Tory conveners must be sorted out by the leader of the council and quickly.
“The situation with our roads in Perth and Kinross is one which requires strong leadership by the convener, not his dodging the issue by his absence.”
Cllr Forbes was promoted to the position of environment and infrastructure convener, after Cllr Colin Stewart stepped down from the role. At the meeting, the committee discussed a new Active Travel strategy and the success of the recent Winter Festival.
The committee also approved £18,800 funding for Perth Festival of the Arts and agreed to extend the Etape Caledonia cycling race in Highland Perthshire by four miles.
However, speaking to the PA Cllr Forbes accused the SNP of trying to make political gain from a situation of which they were fully aware.
He said: “As my other job I am a wedding photographer and in 23 years I have never been booked for a Wednesday.
“The wedding was booked before I even stood as a councillor, never mind elected as a convener. I could never have let a couple down.
“The SNP pretended to be surprised, but they knew where I was.
“The committee date was moved, and we couldn’t get an agreement with the rest of the councillors to move the date again to sometime I was available for.”
Wewererightlyshockedhedidn’tturnup