Call for transparency over city commission
Councillors want answers on board membership
Councillors have asked for more openness about the membership of Stirling’s City Commission.
The body is set to merge with the Clackmannanshire Commission to help shape and support the £90 million City Region Deal.
But members of Stirling Council’s finance and economy committee last Thursday said it should be more obvious to the public just who was involved in the Stirling commission and what it entailed.
One councillor said community councils already felt left out of the City Deal process and communities themselves should feel they have more say.
The role of the Stirling City Commission is as an advisory board to help guide Stirling’s choices in infrastructure investment, business development, connectivity and other high impact projects, and “to meet Stirling’s drive to be an international location of choice”.
When the council first discussed the setting up of a city commission in 2014 it was recommended that membership include: Stirling Council’s leader, chief executive, finance and economy convenor and vice convenor; senior private sector business leaders covering broad sectors including financial and business services, construction, manufacturing, retail, rural economy, tourism and food and drink; the principals of Stirling University and Forth Valley College; Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce chief executive; the Stirling location director of Scottish Enterprise; and a senior representative from Stirling Cultural Forum.
Private sector membership for the commission, which is chaired by Stirling Council leader Scott Farmer, was to be reviewed annually.
However, at last Thursday’s finance committee, Tory councillor Neil Benny asked officials: “In terms of appointments to the Stirling City Commission what’s the process of putting someone on that and how transparent is it in terms of a public list? There’s a lot of money floating about so it’s important to know. I have never seen a list on our website.
“How are we selecting city commissioners? Could we have been a bit more transparent about who we were electing to the city commission? Can people suggest themselves for example? These are all processes that could do with a bit of openness about them.”
Senior manager infrastructure Brian Roberts said: “There is a list. Whether or not it is on the website or not I’m not sure.
“The city commission doesn’t have any governance role in terms of the spending - it’s a sounding body - but we will make sure your point is addressed.”
Councillor Jim Thomson added: “The feedback from community councils is how far removed they are from the process. All this money is being spent on their behalf but they feel removed from it. Everything has to go through communities before money is spent.”
The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal will see Scottish and UK Governments’ invest up to £90.2 million in the local economy, supplemented by additional public and private sector investment.
According to the heads of terms agreement there will be £22m for a Scottish Environment Centre, £17m for an aquaculture innovation hub at Stirling University, £15m for culture, tourism and heritage investment, and £10m for a new Scottish Tartan Centre.
With match funding of an estimated £115m, it aims to provide a platform of £210m to unlock additional private investment of up to £600m, bringing in 5000 jobs.
The feedback from community councils is how far removed they are from the process