THE chair of the Argyll and Bute harbour board has hit back at criticism after another councillor saw his urgent motion rejected.

Councillor Andrew Vennard (Conservative, Oban North and Lorn) sought to have the Oban Harbour Revision Order added to the agenda for a harbour board meeting on Thursday, September 12.

However, his request was rejected by the board’s chair, Councillor Ross Moreland (Dunoon, Liberal Democrat) on the grounds that it had no special reasons for urgency.

A separate motion, also proposed by Councillor Vennard, requested that accounts were published for the eight statutory harbour authorities run by Argyll and Bute Council.

But it too fell when a roll call vote among councillors resulted in a tie of four votes each.

An amendment by Councillor Moreland, which asked for a report detailing the finances of the council’s piers and harbours, prevailed on the chair’s casting vote.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Councillor Vennard said: “There have been a number of concerns expressed locally about the Oban Harbour Revision Order, which is currently with the Scottish Ministers for consideration, as there have been more than 100 objections.

“When we saw the Harbour Board papers published last week, myself, Maurice, and Liz McCabe were all extremely disappointed that the Oban Harbour Revision Order was not on the agenda.

“On Sunday evening and Tuesday afternoon, we made requests to [Councillor Moreland] for the Oban Harbour Revision Order to be added to the agenda, which he rejected.

“A briefing note about the Oban Harbour Revision Order was sent to harbour board members on Tuesday afternoon by the council’s executive director and finance officer, Kirsty Flanagan, which she did not want to be published or discussed by the harbour board members, and Councillor Moreland did not want the paper to be added to the agenda either.

“We therefore lodged an urgent motion for there to be a special meeting of the harbour board to discuss the briefing note about the Oban Harbour Revision Order, so that all the information in the briefing note could be in the public domain and could also be discussed and scrutinised by the harbour board.

“Councillor Moreland exercised his discretion to reject adding the urgent motion. This means that we cannot currently discuss the briefing note issued by Kirsty Flanagan, and so we cannot currently answer many of the queries which are being raised by constituents about the Oban Harbour Revision Order.

“This is a completely farcical situation, as the briefing note contains some helpful information, which if released to the public, may deal with some of the objections which have been raised by the objectors.”

Councillor Vennard added: “Myself, [Councillor Maurice Corry and Councillor Liz McCabe] all found it astonishing that neither Ross Moreland, nor any of the SNP councillors, including Harbour Board vice chair John Armour (who is also the policy lead for transport), were willing to accept our proposal.

“We had hoped that this proposal would attract cross party support, since this is a statutory obligation, and we were pleased to see that the Labour Councillor, Fiona Howard, supported our motion.

“However, neither Ross Moreland, or any of the SNP councillors, appear to believe in financial transparency. We also find it shocking that neither Ross Moreland nor any of the SNP councillors wish to discuss the Oban Harbour Revision Order in public.”

Councillor Moreland said: “The council’s standing orders say that an urgent motion can only be accepted for discussion on the day if there are clear and special reasons identifying the urgent nature of the motion.

“Councillor Vennard’s motion didn’t specify any special reasons for urgency, so it could therefore not be accepted for discussion.

“His motion on financial reports was rejected in favour of an amendment asking the chief financial officer, who is both qualified, and employed by the council, to advise on financial matters, to submit a report detailing the finances of our piers and harbours.

“So his suggestion that the council does not believe in financial management and openness is difficult to understand.

“Regarding the Oban Harbour Revision Order, Cllr Vennard has always voted in favour of the HRO previously, allowing us to move forward with the process so that it now sits with Transport Scotland, who will deal with all the issues raised and engage with objectors as the council has done.”

Councillor Armour was also contacted for comment, but replied only that he fully supported Councillor Moreland’s statement.