Angus councillors have approved a near £1 million plan to hire consultants to transform the local authority in a move condemned as “unjustifiable” by critics.
Councillors voted down party lines in a fraught meeting where the plans from the council’s executive strategic department were debated.
The issue was first raised in a report from strategic director of resources Mark Armstrong at the end of April, which outlined proposals to engage a “strategic partner to support and add value to the council’s Transforming Angus change programme.”
The plans will potentially cost £900,000 over three years and were slammed on Thursday by non-administration members, who attempted in vain to veto council leader Iain Gaul’s motion to support the proposal.
The debate followed an earlier briefing on the proposals and stretched out over the course of one and a half hours.
Two amendments seeking to take the proposals down were defeated in two sets of voting, both times at 17 to 11.
The main critic of the plan, which could ultimately bring the council up to £9 million in future savings according to the report, was Arbroath member David Fairweather.
Mr Fairweather proposed the first amendment to reject the plans and said the council already had the staff and talents to perform the functions of the proposed strategic partner.
He said: “I believe that the Transforming Angus team, given time, will deliver redesign services and quality outcomes without the use of a strategic partner.
“If there is work to be done in looking at other authorities all over Great Britain then that is the team to do it. I am sure that in working with that team and the councillors we will be able to deliver without spending that amount of money.
“I believe we have the quality and we don’t need an outside ‘critical friend’ because we have 29 critical friends in here. We have a critical friend in the manager of Transforming Angus.
“Councillor King said we could make this a well-oiled machine. Well remember, too much oil can clog it up, especially at £900,000 a pop.”
Montrose councillor Bill Duff said there was an element of “misunderstanding” about the proposals from critics and added: “We are not just blowing £900,000 for the fun of it. It is because we think we are going to get £9 millon/£10 millon back.”
His stance was backed several members and a sheet combining the “salient points” of the report was distributed round the meeting in bullet point form.
Councillor Iain Gaul then spoke in favour of the proposal and said the briefing held before the council meeting cleared up many of the questions and doubts being aired, but had not been attended by all members.
He said: “You say you have every faith in our executive management team. If that’s the case, why aren’t you backing them?
“This has come from three executive directors and the chief executive. This is what they are telling us is the best way forward.
“You say we have 29 critical friends here. We don’t. We have 29 critics.
“We do not have the expertise to take apart a £250 million business and put it back together again in a more efficient way of working.
“We want the council to run like a business. Our product is the frontline services that we deliver to the people of Angus.
“Our executive management team tells us this is the way to go and these are the tools they need to do their job. If we have every faith in our executive management team, why are we taking the tools away from them?
“It is now time to admit that we made budgetary decisions and we now need to do what we said we were going to do.”
Regular update reports will be submitted to the policy and resources committee following the commencement of the partnership.