FWCC resigns but vows to fight council inertia
A MASS resignation from Fort William Community Council (FWCC) on Tuesday night saw every member step down saying they were ‘tired of being ignored’ by Highland Council.
However, immediately following the move, a new group Fort William First was formed from the same members, who say they will not bow down to the local authority.
The newly formed group Fort William First is promising to fight against ‘the inertia of Highland Council’.
Leading the attack was Drew Purdon, the acting chairman of FWCC who along with the seven other members of the statutory group said ‘ enough is enough’, claiming Highland Council didn’t listen to ‘ anything we have to say’.
The resignations saw the loss of more than 100 years of collective service to community councils, and veterans such as Patricia Jordan, Alex Farquhar, Neil Clark, Sheila MacLennan and Ian Kennedy stood down with immediate effect.
Even new members such as Duncan Brown said he was shocked at the ‘lack of support for anything in Lochaber from Highland Council’.
In a final act, prior to the resignations, members voted to give £4,622 to the Town Team for the west- end project for a roundabout. One member suggested the money should fund a statue ‘putting two fingers up to Inverness’. All eight members said the community council system was only a ‘tick box exercise for Highland Council’.
Acting chairman, Mr Purdon said: ‘Someone is paid to sit in an office and send out letters – and that is what is understood by Highland Council as consultation. They take no account whatsoever of anything that we have to say. As time has gone on that has only gotten worse.’
One by one community councillors made resignation speeches, sharing disappointments in the lack of engagement with Highland Council and its officials. Even Police Scotland were named for not coming along to the group. It was also claimed that officials are running the local authority and not the elected members.
Mr Purdon said: ‘It is a historic day and a sad day that it has come to this. We have got too much to give to this town to stop sticking up for it. We will write to Alec Neil MSP, minister for communities, to find out what he has to say about the way in which we have been treated.
‘Lochaber is the land that Highland Council forgot. We are no longer prepared to kowtow to officials who work out of a Stalinist organisation.
‘Highland Council has behaved abysmally.’
Highland Councillor Andrew Baxter said he was sympathetic to the group: ‘I am so sorry that you have done what you have done. I understand the reasons behind it. Lochaber is being ignored. My interest in going into politics was the same as yours to make sure we were represented. I am sorry that you feel you are being ignored.’
Fort William First was convened immediately as the FWCC was closed vowing to work on projects that would ‘actually make a real difference to the town.’
Area Leader, Councillor Thomas Maclennan said: ‘ We are disappointed to hear of the decision by community council members in Fort William.
‘An independent group would not be recognised by the council. It could not attract any funding we provide to community councils and would not be included in the normal consultation processes we have with community councils.
‘ We will now consider options for having a community council presence in Fort William which will be actively engaged in moving Fort William forward.’