Larkhall Community Council chairman defends decision to halt last week’s stormy meeting

Sep 2 2010 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

LARKHALL Community Council chairman Ally Dawson insisted he closed last week’s community council meeting before it got “completely out of hand.”

The former Accies gaffer revealed community councillors may, in fact, have voted to object to Scotgen’s proposals for a £50m incinerator at Dovesdale Farm.

Yesterday (Wednesday), he defended his decision to halt last week’s meeting after a furious row between community councillors and Dovesdale protestors over proposals for the plant.

Mr Dawson said: “I warned two or three times that the line of questioning was getting out of hand.

“I didn’t see why I had to listen to people berating back and forwards. I had the right to close the meeting as it was getting out of hand.

“I have consulted the secretary, vice-chairman and Margaret Armstrong at South Lanarkshire Council and they all said I took the right action. It is unfortunate people didn’t get the chance to hear what the community council had found out or that we got the chance to vote.

“One member of the action group was continually very rude and close to legal action being taken against them. I am disappointed we didn’t get to vote as the action group may have been surprised many of us would have supported them. But it was our monthly meeting and we had our normal agenda to get through.”

Stewart Weir, spokesman for Dovesdale Action Group, said: “It was an absolute cop out. They (Larkhall Community Council) have made a difficult decision very easy. They didn’t like the line of questioning and have said it is our ball and our game and thrown the towel in. The chairman stopped the meeting because he decided he had had enough. We wanted a good honest debate on the matter.”

He added: “If that is the basis on which Larkhall Community Council operate then people in Larkhall are not being served by their community councillors.”

This week Larkhall Community Council issued a statement which read: “Larkhall Community Council regret our monthly meeting on Monday, August 23, ended prematurely, without a decision being made on the Scotgen planning application.

“While a number of members of Larkhall Community Council had, over the last couple of months, committed a great deal of time and effort to fact-finding on this application, it was impossible to present any of this information to the public.

“The community council have, over their last three meetings, provided Dovesdale Action Group with a platform from which to present their case but last Monday, the action group were not prepared to afford the community council the same courtesy.

“Perhaps the fact Larkhall Community Council had found that many statements made by action group supporters, at public meetings, were shown to be false, had something to do with their actions.

“A prominent member of the action group, who by his own admission, had already been visited by Strathclyde Police regarding his activities, refused to desist from making unfounded, derogatory remarks. The chairman was left with no other option than to prematurely close the meeting. His actions were fully supported by community council members in attendance.

“A representation on the planning application will be submitted by Larkhall Community Council to South Lanarkshire Council’s planning department.”