SCOTLAND'S largest council has faced a day of trauma following the suspension of one of its senior officers and a political resignation which leaves the ruling Labour administration's majority teetering on the brink.
Glasgow City Council announced it had suspended its £120,000-a-year-plus head of land and environmental services Brian Devlin pending an internal investigation, understood to focus on the award of contracts.
Read more: Bus gate couple told to take legal fight back to parking tribunal
Mr Devlin had recently returned to work following a period of ill health amid claims of low morale and deep divisions between senior members of the administration and top officers.
It is understood Mr Devlin's lap top has been retained by the council as part of the probe. The council's opposition SNP group is to call for answers on what the department's political chief, Labour's Elaine McDougall, has known about the issues surrounding the suspension.
The announcement followed the unrelated resignation of former chief whip and chair of the Labour group, Aileen Colleran, who will continue as an independent until next year's local elections.
Read more: Revealed: 'Glasgow effect' mortality rate blamed on Westminster social engineering
Ms Colleran, who is married to SNP MP Chris Stephens, cited disillusion with the party nationally and personal circumstances, including claims she has been treated with “suspicion and mistrust”.
Her resignation, combined with a number of suspensions and by-election defeats, has brought the Labour administration within a seat or so of losing its overall majority on the council.
A coup or vote of no-confidence in council leader Frank McAveety is unlikely, whoever it is certain to add a burden to what is expected to be a tumultuous year for the authority in the run up to next year's council poll.
Meanwhile, the council has also u-turned on its attempts to alter some the workforce terms and conditions for thousands of staff as part of efforts to save £4.5million.
The GMB had already voted overwhelming in favour of striking, with Unison, the council's biggest union, also balloting members on industrial action.
Read more: Union launches fresh waves of equal pay claims against Scotland's largest council
A email from council chief executive Annmarie O'Donnell to staff said: "The council’s administration has decided to withdraw proposals to replace some public holidays with annual leave, having made significant progress delivering budget savings.
"The council has to save £130m over two years, but current budget out-turns are stronger than expected at this stage."
One of Scottish local government's most senior officers, Mr Devlin has been responsible for around 3000 staff with a remit covering cleansing, bin collection, park, roads to environmental health and trading standards.
He previously served as both director of regeneration services and director of environment at Stirling Council and was also business director with civil engineering and support services giant Amey.
Insiders say concerns have also been raised about Mr Devlin’s general conduct and performance in the City Chambers, while others have claimed politicians have been attempting to build a case against him.
A council spokesman said: “The executive director for land and environmental services has been suspended on a precautionary basis, pending an internal investigation.
“There will be no further comment while that investigation takes place.”
Assistant director George Gillespie will assume day-to-day operational responsibility for the service.
Meanwhile, announcing her resignation, Ms Colleran said the Labour party at all levels was "in a state of confusion" adding that what was needed was "fresh faces, thinking and vision".
She added: “The levels of mistrust and suspicion directed towards myself and widespread gossip about an imminent defection, to the point that community activists were asking me when I was planning on joining the SNP, have led me to take the step of clearing the matter up once and for all time. For the duration of my council term I will not be joining any other political party.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel