ABC Group stands ground in hydro cash row
The group accused of reneging on an alleged agreement over the £20,000 a year in community benefit being paid from certain hydro power schemes on Loch Arkaig, near Achnacarry, says it will not give up the money, writes Mark Entwistle.
Last week the Lochaber Times reported the resignation of a councillor from the Spean Bridge, Roy Bridge and Achnacarry Community Council in the row over which group should hold the funds – the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) which operates alongside the community council or the SCIO which operates alongside the ABC (Achnacarry, Bunarkaig and Clues) Group.
The subsequent resignation of Sandy Edmond, from Achnacarry, has forced the community council into abeyance due to an insufficiency of elected councillors.
Until recently, Mr Edmond had been chairman of the SCIO set up for the community council area to handle monies such as that paid as community benefit from energy companies. He is also currently secretary and a trustee of the ABC Group – something community council chairman John Fotheringham says was clearly a serious conflict of interest.
The row flared following this month’s community council meeting, when Mr Fotheringham was adamant there had been an agreement with a previous chairman of the ABC Group, that all of the payments negotiated with Green Highland Renewables, would be handed over to the community council area SCIO to be disbursed for the benefit of all.
But three days after the meeting, Mr Edmond resigned and launched a blistering attack on what he claimed were efforts by the community council, under Mr Fotheringham’s leadership, to target the ABC Group and take over funds the latter had worked hard to negotiate.
It had been hoped that Dot Ferguson, Lochaber area ward manager for Highland Council would be able to mediate, but the local authority says this will not now happen.
Asked for his view, Liam McLoone, the current ABC Group chairman, told the Lochaber Times he was open to mediation but that he stood by Mr Edmond’s remarks.
‘These funds come from disruption [caused by construction of the hydro schemes], and from what I believe is a right for communities to benefit from the profits made on local natural resources,’ he explained. ‘The opportunities this funding offers our community are not only to sustain our current activities, but for the future generations that will live here.
‘Even if I did feel it was morally correct for the community council SCIO to be in receipt of the benefit funding, which I don’t, I feel the community council SCIO does not have the capacity or engagement to manage these funds responsibly.’
Asked for its view, a Highland Council spokesperson said as community benefit funds were voluntary agreements, and there was no legislative requirement for such arrangements to be made, there was therefore no formal legal procedure that must be followed.
Asked to comment on Mr McLoone’s remarks, Mr Fotheringham said there was a serious principle at stake.
‘The ABC Group is getting £20,000 a year for 40 years - a total of £800,000 - which it intends investing,’ he said.
‘If it is a question of disturbance from the construction of these schemes on Loch Arkaig, then Gairlochy had to put up with more than anywhere else and they’ve not been given a penny from this, and nor will they if that cash is just invested long term.
‘How is any of that fair?’