Highland councillor censured after rule breaking

A HIGHLAND councillor has been censured by a standards watchdog for breaking public office rules for opposing a controversial planning development while acting as a lawyer for objectors.

Inverness Lib-Dem Ken MacLeod apologised for failing to declare an interest, but claimed it was an oversight having had a minor heart attack.

He had opposed plans for new allotments in Ullapool, Wester Ross, during a committee meeting in February last year, but did not declare he was representing a group of campaigners.

The veteran councillor, also a solicitor, issued a writ against the local authority on behalf of Morefield Riverside Action Group days after the development proposed by the Lochbroom and Ullapool Gardeners and Growers Society was approved.

He admitted the mistake and was found guilty by the Standards Commission for Scotland of breaking the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

It found that there was “an adverse impact on the public’s trust and confidence in Mr MacLeod”.

The councillor told the hearing: “I had a small heart attack and I wasn’t thinking as straight as I should have been. I was speaking from my heart rather than my head at that particular moment.”

Standards Commissioner Stuart Allen told the hearing that emails showed Mr MacLeod had been advising the group since 2011, months before the planning meeting.

He said the councillor’s speech to the committee calling for refusal of planning permission or a delay for a site visit was similar to a legal document he prepared on behalf of the group for a court hearing.

Mr Allen added: “He totally opposed the application and failed to declare his or his client’s interest in this matter.

“I think there was an adverse impact on the public’s trust and confidence in Mr MacLeod and perhaps in the council itself on conducting public business.

“There was certainly an impact on the perception of the integrity of the planning system.

“I don’t think he set out with the intention of misleading the council. He was certainly negligent.

“I think Councillor MacLeod failed to meet the standard in the principals of integrity and honesty that the code required.”

Matt Smith, the hearing panel chairman, said it had decided to censure the councillor because of the “serious nature” of his failure to declare the involvement which could have impacted on the planning system.

Councillor MacLeod turned up at the meeting but was surprised to find out none of the four ward councillors at the time – Audrey Sinclair, Biz Campbell, Jean Urquhart and Richard Green – were able to speak out because they had signed a funding bid for an authority grant to the allotment group, were absent or in ill health.

Having suffered a minor heart attack about 10 days prior, he told the panel he was not in the best of health and the situation worsened when he learned there would be no local member input and his emotional pull to Ullapool also affected him.

He said: “I was born and brought up in Ullapool and have considerable feeling for the village yet. I should have declared that I had an interest, but financially it was on a pro-bona basis, for nothing. I am sorry this happened. I wasn’t all together that particular week and I will be on medication for the rest of my life.”

Mrs Urquhart, an Independent regional list MSP and former SNP councillor, reported Councillor MacLeod to the commissioner and said she was vindicated by the verdict and dismissed an earlier claim it was politically motivated,

She added: “My senses of injustice have been upheld by the commission. Councillors need to pay attention to the Code of Conduct to give the public reassurance that everything is fair.”