The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Councillors cut up over officials’ grass contract deal
Service: Members demand review of decision to continue contract
A row about grass cutting services has sparked a feud between High land councillors and senior officials.
Councillors in three areas yesterday condemned a move to extend a contract with an existing operator, claiming the service had “rarely been poorer”.
The trio complained that officers had made a decision during the holiday break and argued that the matter should be decided by elected members.
Officials had informed councillors by e-mail on Tuesday that the lucrative contract with Surrey-based firm ISS should be extended eight months beyond next February’s expiry date.
They cited a need for long-term planning during a period of flux in which the authority is undergoing a post-budget “redesign” of its entire service structure.
The councillors – Donnie Kerr in Inverness, Aviemore’s Bill Lobban and Andrew Baxter in Lochaber – demanded that the matter be delayed until after the summer recess.
Emerging from top-level discussions on the issue late yesterday, council leader Margaret Davidson said: “All options will be put to elected members at the August meeting of the community services committee. There seems to have been a bit of a misunderstanding.
“There has been a lot of discussion over the last few weeks about looking seriously at taking grass cutting back in-house and we need to work that up, but it’s a complex issue.”
In his e-mail, community services director William Gilfillan acknowledged that councillors had expressed an interest in exploring the possibility of bringing some or all council grass cutting in-house.
After consideration by senior officers, the intention was to extend contracts to October 2017 to allow “breathing space” and the risk was considered to be “low”. ISS declined to respond to the councillors’ criticism.
City councillor Mr Kerr said: “This is, without doubt, the worst year’s grass cutting we have seen in Inverness.”
Mr Lobban said: “The
“Worst year grass cutting we have seen in Inverness”
standard of work produced by the external contractor under this contract has been shameful.”
Baxter said: “We’ve had problems with this contract over the last couple of years.”