PETERHEAD COUNCILLOR’S BID TO PUT BRAKES ON ABERDEEN BYPASS VOTED DOWN

COULL AND “DEMOCRATIC” INDEPENDENT GROUP WALK OUT OF BUDGET MEETING

A bid by Peterhead councillor Sam Coull and members of the “Democratic Independent Group” to put the brakes on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) at today’s Budget Meeting of Aberdeenshire Council had the brakes put on it by pro-economic development councillors.

Councillor Coull’s group put forward a budget amendment which included an item stating that “the Western Peripheral Route is now not affordable and that meeting the council’s share of the likely cost would require substantial further cuts in essential public services, agrees that such additional cuts would be unacceptable and instructs officers to advise the Scottish Government of the council’s position”.

The council’s Monitoring Officer ruled the Democratic Independent Group’s budget amendment was incompetent owing to the inclusion of another item which had already been debated and agreed at the last meeting of the Full Council. Rather than amend their proposal to allow a debate to take place on the merits of their other proposals, the 5 Democratic Independent members seized the opportunity to storm out of the Budget Meeting after councillors voted to refuse to allow a suspension of Standing Orders to debate the incompetent Motion.

Commenting on the bizarre behaviour, Peterhead South & Cruden councillor Stuart Pratt said:

“This was probably the most important Budget Meeting that Aberdeenshire Council has ever had and I am utterly amazed that a small minority of disruptive elements chose to use it as a platform for a publicity stunt.

“Leaving their bizarre behaviour aside, what is even more concerning is that there are councillors in Aberdeenshire who would seek to wreck the progress achieved in moving the Aberdeen bypass forward. The AWPR is essential to the economic well-being of Buchan and the entire North-east but it seems some people are quite prepared to ignore the huge benefits this will mean to the local economy.

“I think that voters in Peterhead and Buchan will be amazed that a local councillor for this area is quite prepared to scrap the Aberdeen bypass and continue with the traffic bottleneck travelling through Aberdeen city.”