Councillors’ attendance called into question

John Fraser.

Getting all 23 Shetland Islands councillors around the table “seems to be very, very difficult”, according to one member.

Lerwick South councillor John Fraser said that seemed to be the case “under this administration”.

He was responding to complaints that councillors had not been involved in developing an action plan in response to Audit Scotland’s report last month.

Councillor Liz Peterson said she was “quite disappointed” that officials had compiled the report without any input from elected members.

SIC leader Emma Macdonald, talking at Monday’s policy and resources meeting, said there had been a very short time-scale for the report.

Mr Fraser agreed, and said if there had been “23 individuals in a politically charged environment” it would have slowed the process down.

“There’s a lot of strong opinions, and dare I say, a lot of strong egos,” he added.

Ms Peterson said she had “no doubt that this report will be a good report” but still felt councillors should have had a say in developing how the SIC responded to Audit Scotland’s concerns.

She said they would be able to reject the report – but then would have to start all over again.

Mr Fraser said it was “highly unlikely” that councillors would do so, and again stressed how little time the council had to put the plan together.

“Managing to get 23 councillors around the table seems to be very, very difficult under this administration,” he said.