BANFF & MACDUFF COUNCILLORS COME TO TOWNS' DEFENCE

LABOUR TALKING DOWN OUR TOWNS

Banff and Macduff councillors have reacted angrily to a Labour Party statement branding the towns as a "wasteland".

A local Labour Party member made the statement intended to announce his candidacy for Westminster and claiming the towns will achieve more under Labour – forgetting that Labour have been in power continuously since 1997 at Westminster. The candidate then went on to criticise the Aberdeen City & Shire Structure Plan which was approved by Aberdeenshire councillors of all parties last week and designates Banff and Macduff as areas which will receive regeneration funding.

Commenting, Troup councillor Bob Watson, who represents Macduff, said:

"I am absolutely astonished by this attack. Councillors across all parties in Aberdeenshire supported the Structure Plan last week which places both Banff and Macduff in a regeneration area. I was pleased that Macduff will now stand to benefit from this once the plan comes into force.

"Everyone knows that Banff and Macduff have their problems which is precisely why they are included in the regeneration areas. But to describe the area as a "wasteland" and to say that the towns are "scavenging for bits and pieces of the economic cake" is simply to give the towns a bad name.

"If we are to regenerate the area and attract new businesses and investment to the towns, the last thing we need is someone publicly running the place down. What on earth kind of message does that send out to potential employers and investors?

"Macduff has a lot going for it and could do much better. Its people are its greatest asset and it is not being fair to them to brand the town in this way."

Banff representative Cllr Ian Gray added:

"It takes some nerve to stand up and say that this area will do so much better under Labour when we've had a Labour Government at Westminster for 12 years and had Labour running the Scottish Executive for 8 of those years.

"During that time, we had year-on-year increases in council tax for less and less services. Only since the SNP took over the Scottish Government has the council tax been frozen and we've started to see more investment in local services. We're even about to see the first council houses built in Aberdeenshire for almost 20 years.

"I'm very disappointed for all those local groups and organisations who work hard to promote Banffshire as a destination only to see their hard work undermined by these silly and inaccurate comments."