Provostraps colleaguefor jumpinggun

Provost Dennis Melloy gave one of his Conservative colleagues a ticking-off for not following procedure during a meeting over common good funding.

The Strathmore councillor told off Councillor Colin Stewart for telling Alyth Community Council (ACC) that it could pick a member to have a say on how the town’s common good fund was spent before he was supposed to.

Convening the council’s Alyth Common Good Fund committee last Wednesday, Councillor Stewart was about to allow an ACC member to sit on the committee when Councillor Melloy raised a point of order.

“It’s unfortunate that you informed the community council a little bit earlier than you should have done,” he said to Councillor Stewart.

“This should have been determined today before the community council was advised. Perhaps we should take note of that.

“I think in your enthusiasm you were a month too early.”

Councillor Stewart said: “Given that the community council in Alyth has recently reformed and this was a new proposal from the council, I thought it was incumbent on us to alert the community council to the proposal and this meeting was coming up.”

But Councillor Melloy shot back: “I’m sorry, I don’t accept that. This should have been decided by the committee, not yourself, so you jumped the gun. It’s unfortunate. “

The committee allowed an ACC member to join them then granted Alyth and District Agricultural Society funding to hire safety barriers.