Campaigners are getting ready for a final challenge to what one councillor has condemned as the “corporate theft” of Arbroath Library.
Two years after a proposal to transfer the Hill Terrace building from Arbroath’s Common Good Fund to a general fund of Angus Council sparked outrage, campaigners will make a final bid to halt the move.
Leading this will be Arbroath independent councillor Bob Spink, whose fight to retain David Corsar’s gift to the community has brought support from figures including Scotland’s former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie.
Angus Council holds common good funds generally made up of property gifted to the former burghs by Royal Charter. Income from common good properties is ploughed back into them or into their local areas.
However, despite what Mr Spink has described as unequivocal local support for the claim to keep the library on the common good, the Arbroath East and Lunan member is downbeat.
“In spite of the very considerable public interest at all levels, the recommendations remain virtually unchanged, in that the library should be transferred to the general fund of the council and removed from the list of Arbroath Common Good assets,” he said.
“I vehemently oppose the proposal as an insult to the generous benefactor and his true intent,” said Mr Spink, who labelled the library proposal “corporate theft”.
“In all that time, I have not found one single person who shares the view of the officers of the council but many who share mine.”
“At the last meeting in December, I put an amendment to the council in an effort to have the matter decided by a vote of the elected members in true democratic fashion.
“In the end, my motion was ruled incompetent by the provost on the basis that it was against the legal advice of the head of law and administration, so no debate was either allowed or vote taken.”
He added: “Since then, I have asked the head of law and admin for the names of the senior counsel engaged by the council to prove their case and I was denied that information.
“I asked to see a copy of their report and was denied that also. Should I need to request under Freedom of Information or explore judicial review with its associated costs? I hope not.”
Angus Council has made no comment on that matter.
Mr Spink added: “We have a ludicrous and worrying situation which goes beyond the case for the Arbroath library. Something is not right and my faith in democracy is being stretched.”