A Conservative motion in response to Storm Arwen got a stormy response from Perth and Kinross Council’s SNP group.
It went before councillors as they met virtually for the final council meeting of 2021.
The emergency motion - drafted in response to Storm Arwen - garnered support for its praise of the local community but there was turbulent resistance to its criticism of the Scottish Government from the SNP group.
Conservative Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Caroline Shiers was granted permission to put forward the emergency motion ahead of the day’s business as councillors met on December 15.
Cllr Shiers’ motion praised the “significant and tireless efforts of individuals and communities” who helped neighbours in their hour of - and what for many turned into almost a week of - need.
Cllr Shiers spoke of farmers clearing fallen trees, neighbours/businesses providing hot food and drinks to those without power and of many who offered up accommodation.
The Conservative councillor commended “the speed of response of Perth and Kinross Council staff when asked to help vulnerable individuals and communities struggling to cope with the immediate after-effects.”
While there were positive stories to be shared, Cllr Shiers’ motion noted “many communities have the will but not the means currently to provide such a response, particularly for periods extending into days.”
In the sixth point of her motion she took a deft swipe at the Scottish Government noting “the speed of community response compared to the slowness of any response from the Scottish Government.”
In her seventh and final point, Cllr Shiers asked Conservative council leader Murray Lyle to write to the Scottish Government requesting “further funding be made available through local authorities to assist communities in building and refining resilience plans, and in purchasing equipment necessary to respond to future emergencies.”
An amendment tabled by PKC’s Liberal Democrat group was even stronger in its criticism of the Scottish Government as councillors all met for the first time since the publication of the 2022/23 Scottish Government budget.
Lib Dem Perth City Centre councillor Peter Barrett told councillors: “There was a far worse storm which hit every council area in Scotland last week and the repair bill for that stands at £100 million.
“Scottish councils have once again felt the brunt of SNP and Green indifference to localism and local communities. Despite all the pressures that councils face and ignoring the heroic efforts of council and council staff in response to COVID and to deliver a fair recovery, local government is to be hit with £100m of cuts to core budgets.”
Seconding, Perth City South councillor Willie Wilson said the Lib Dem group supported the Conservatives’ emergency motion but described the budget situation as “deplorable.”
He added: “We need proper funding for proper services.”
Perth City North SNP councillor John Rebbeck welcomed the first part of the Conservative motion and said: “If there has been a silver lining of the pandemic it has been the renewed sense of community spirit.”
But Cllr Rebbeck called the last two parts of the motion and the Lib Dem amendment “gratuitous SNP bad”, “undignified and frankly pathetic.”
SNP group leader councillor Grant Laing proposed amending the end of the motion. His amendment referenced a need to improve PKC’s emergency call centre arrangements but Conservative councillor Angus Forbes said this had already been dealt with following issues during the August 2020 flooding event.
Independent Highland ward councillor Xander McDade suggested a “bit of goodwill before Christmas.” He called for cross-party consensus and a compromised motion councillors could vote unanimously for rather than several rounds of votes.
Cllr McDade requested deleting the last point of the motion and amending point six to “noting the speed of community response and work towards greater cooperation between all levels of government and note appropriate levels of resourcing will be important to ensure this is achieved.”
Following a recess the SNP withdrew their amendment to support the amendment put forward by Cllr McDade and seconded by Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey. It defeated the Liberal Democrat amendment as the substantive amendment by 16 votes to five with 18 abstentions.
Councillors then voted in favour of Cllr Shiers’ Conservative motion - including its criticism of the SNP government - by 23 votes to 15 for the Ind/Lab amendment.
Conservative councillor Mike Barnacle - formerly a member of PKC’s Independent/Labour group - abstained.
After about an hour and 40 minutes’ debate on the emergency motion councillors then proceeded to begin discussing the first item on the day’s long agenda.
