TODAY (December 13) the 28 tribunes of South Ayrshire Council will meet in the royal burgh of Ayr to consider a benign motion put forward by the Tory Party to examine the case for a Citizens Advice Bureau in South Ayrshire. This comes after more than a year of lobbying by an apolitical and well-informed group of residents wanting independent and holistic advice services to be established in the area. In that time we have been refused the courtesy of a meeting with the SNP leader of council and the Labour leader has blocked access to his small group. We have been ignored, rebuked, even slandered. There have been clumsy attempts to discredit. Such is what passes for democracy in South Ayrshire, a council where motions laid by the opposition, the largest party, are routinely dismissed as a matter of course by people still fighting old battles, settling old scores and putting tribal loyalties before the interests of the people it claims to serve. Redefining the term Rotten Burghs.
The SNP-Labour coalition, an odd coalition of the Unionist and separatist socialist minority parties, is unrepresentative of the share of the vote. The two “Independents” who underpin the fragile coalition have said they will vote against the motion because they must support the coalition. This is not a definition of independent that many would recognise.
The coalition leadership has already instructed its motley crew to frustrate the motion. Not, we believe, on any merit or in the best interests of the people but simply because it has been proposed by the Tories. We, the citizens, have never been given even one reason for South Ayrshire Council's long-term resistance to have a bureau. Claims that council-run services do everything an independent bureau does is not and can never be true.
Unless there is an outbreak of humanity of those under the mysterious control of a locally unpopular SNP leader who seems to us to be pursuing old grudges and fleeting political power, whilst sitting ironically under a Burns quote of “Ne’er forget the people”, the people of South Ayrshire will continue to be disadvantaged by the absence of an independent bureau, unlike their neighbours in East Ayrshire.
Councillors, you should all allow this apolitical motion to pass without amendment in the best interests of those who are entitled not to suffer through lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities, of the services available to them, or through an inability to express their need effectively, or “In hell they’ll roast thee like a herrin!”
John Dunlop, on behalf of the steering group,
19 Wellington Lane, Ayr.
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