Glasgow LibDems playing politics with Trump development

Commenting on the Glasgow City Council LibDem Group's attempt to cast further innuendos on the Trump Development in Aberdeenshire by saying it was 'wrong' to call it in, Brian Adam, SNP MSP for Aberdeen North, said their actions were a massive embarrassment for the LibDems in the North East.

He said: "This is a massive embarrassment for the LibDems.

"The Glasgow LibDems appear oblivious to the fact that the LibDem-run council in Aberdeenshire welcomed the call in of the Trump Development by the Scottish Government.

"It was also welcomed by the Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism which is chaired by a Liberal Democrat MSP.

"This just shows division and turmoil in the LibDem ranks and will only add to the dwindling support for the LibDems in North East Scotland.

"The Glasgow LibDems have obviously learnt nothing from their party's previous blundering into this matter.

"Nicol Stephen was roundly condemned by North East newspapers and businesses for what was viewed as 'gutter politics' and an 'attempt to sabotage' the development.

"Calling in the application was not only a popular decision but one that potentially saved the council tax payers of Aberdeenshire 'hundreds of thousands of pounds' as the Chief Planner explained to the Parliamentary Inquiry.

"Nicol Stephen's game of seeking cheap headlines with false charges has already caused him and his party disastrous damage in the North East.

"This continued campaign of innuendo by his party in Glasgow will damage what tattered reputation he and his party has left in the North East.

"The LibDems in Glasgow are also failing their constituents. As an opposition group they should be opposing the Labour-run council. It says volumes that they don't do that nor communicate with their colleagues in Aberdeenshire.

"The Liberal Democrats increasingly desperate innuendoes and irresponsible behaviour are only leading them to electoral disaster.

"By attacking the integrity of the chief planner, the First Minister and the Scottish Government Nicol Stephen came close to jeopardising an extremely popular and important economic development for the north east and Scotland.

"Nicol Stephen and his party will rue the day they decided to opt for a cheap political headlines over a multi-million pound investment in the Scottish economy."

Notes:

1.  The Glasgow City Council LibDem Group's motion reads:

"The Council believes that Scottish Ministers were wrong to call in the Trump planning application after the planning committee in Aberdeenshire Council had voted to reject it, because:

i. the developer already had a right of appeal;

ii. the Minister appears to have taken a partisan position on the application that he must now determine; and

iii. their action has injected uncertainty into  the whole Scottish planning system

The Council accordingly resolves to submit a petition to the Scottish Parliament requesting it to enact legislation that will establish beyond doubt that the power conferred on Scottish Ministers by section 46 (1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Ahct 1997 to give a direction requiring a particular planning application be referred to them instead of being dealt with by the planning authority does not give Ministers a power to call in an application after the date on which the planning authority actually decided whether the application should be granted or refused, regardless of the provisions in section 37 (4) of the act regarding the date on which the planning authority's decision bears to have been signed on behalf of the authority"

2. The issue is playing extremely badly for Nicol Stephen in the North East – where his majority was slashed in the May election by over 5,000. Editorials in the Press & Journal and Aberdeen Evening Express (below) condemned his actions.

3. On 19th December 2007 several prominent North East business people wrote to the Press & Journal slating the Liberal Democrats as anti-business for Nicol Stephen's behaviour over the Trump development.

4. A poll in the Aberdeen Evening Express showed support for the development running at 80% in the North East.

5. In his evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Local Government and Communities Committee on 16th January 2008 the Chief Planner said that if the Trump Organisation had taken the option to appeal then the council would have been liable for "hundreds of thousands of pounds" and "the tax payer in Aberdeenshire would have picked up a very hefty bill" on the grounds of "unreasonable behaviour".

This would have been on the basis of the contradictory positions taken by the Infrastructure Services Committee against the advice of council officials and in comparison to the full Council's decision to overwhelmingly back the development.

Aberdeenshire is currently run by a LibDem-Tory Coalition.

7. Editorials in the Press & Journal and Evening Express are below:

* PRESS & JOURNAL, 14 DECEMBER

TIME TO THINK OF THE GREATER GOOD

Less than 24 hours after Aberdeenshire's council made an impressive job of rectifying the mess it had created of the Trump project, Scottish and UK politicians have made a fresh attempt to sabotage it.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen, a man who should have the wellbeing of the county at the forefront of his consciousness, placed that priority firmly behind the desire to make political capital by attempting to portray the SNP government's efforts to keep the plan alive as some kind of sleaze-ridden journey on the gravy train to personal glory.

First, his party led the rather pathetic criticism of First Minister Alex Salmond's use of the ministerial car to attend a meeting with Trump's representatives when he was acting in his constituency role.

Now, Mr Stephen himself has jumped on the bandwagon by calling "foul" over the government decision to call in the plan.

We know that politics is a dirty business, but there are times when the opportunity to land a punch should take second place to the greater good, which, in this case, is ensuring that a development which will bring massive investment to the north-east of Scotland is welcomed and encouraged rather than blocked and criticised at every turn.

Worse still is the decision by Westminster politicians to have their pop at the SNP by suggesting that the calling-in of the Trump proposal runs contrary to the party's beliefs on the removal of power from centralised government. The only consolation was that any credibility Edinburgh MP Mark Lazarowicz hoped to gain by seeking the high moral ground was instantly nullified by the support of Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, that doyenne of political propriety. Politicians should learn when to keep their mouths shut and, where this issue is concerned, that time is now.

* EVENING EXPRESS, 14 DECEMBER

END THIS TIRESOME HECKLING

12:00 - 14 December 2007

First Minister Alex Salmond is spot on in his assessment of yesterday's sleaze row as a descent into gutter politics.

It is tiresome that Nicol Stephen is hijacking attempts to get the Trump bid back on course to score cheap political points.

As a North-east MSP we expect him to represent the interests of his constituents, not sling mud at the expense of efforts to rescue the Menie proposals.

Mr Stephen is hardly the one to indulge in such heckling. People in the North-east still haven't forgiven the way he presided over the bypass farce.

Mistakes have been made, but work is now going on at the highest levels to ensure the Trump proposal is feasible. We expect our MSPs to support that.