Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

The Lord Provost advised that although the written request for the special meeting was a public document, the advice from officers was that the meeting should be held in private as it related to an ongoing legal case.

Councillor Malik moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Brooks:-

          That the Council hold the whole meeting in public.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (18)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Brooks, Crockett, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Kusznir, Lawrence, Macdonald, McLeod, Malik, Massey, Mrs Stewart, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Against the procedural motion  (23)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allard, Alphonse, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Fairfull, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

Declined to vote  (1)  -  Councillor Boulton.

The Council resolved:-

to reject the procedural motion.

Councillor Boulton moved as a further procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Mrs Stewart:-

That the Council hold the meeting in public but consider certain parts in private subject to legal advice.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (19)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Boulton, Brooks, Crockett, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Kusznir, Lawrence, Macdonald, McLeod, Malik, Massey, Mrs Stewart, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Against the procedural motion  (23)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allard, Alphonse, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Fairfull, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

The Council resolved:-

(i)             to reject the procedural motion; and

(ii)           to note that although the written request for the special meeting was a public document, to agree in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in paragraph 12 of Schedule 7A of the Act.

Councillor Cooke advised that he had a connection in relation to the matter as an observer to the Board of Sport Aberdeen, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

(A)      The Council had before it the wording of the written request for this special Council meeting which had been signed by 17 members in accordance with Standing Order 8.2.2:-

“The business to be transacted relates to the case against the Council in relation to libraries closures and the Bucksburn Pool closure given Aberdeen Labour and others warned against these closures at the Budget in March 2023.”

(B)      The Lord Provost advised that a request for a deputation had been received from Ms Laura Anne MacKay, however Standing Orders would require to be suspended in order to hear Ms MacKay as there was no report on the agenda.

The Council resolved:-

to suspend Standing Order 14.3 to hear the deputation.

(C)      The Council received a deputation from Ms MacKay who spoke in furtherance of previous correspondence in connection with the matter.

Ms MacKay advised that she was a library user who had been impacted by the closures and as someone with a disability, she also knew how important an accessible swimming pool was. She emphasised that she was extremely angry by the decisions that had been taken and the advice that had been given by Council officers which led to those decisions.

Ms MacKay stated that she had been appalled by a lot of the rhetoric in the Chamber on all sides and she had grave concerns that today’s meeting would turn into another slanging match. She implored Councillors to act as individuals and not as members of a political party, or with any other agenda. She stressed that the Council needed to act legally and make the best use of public funds to provide essential services to citizens, such as libraries and swimming pools.

Ms MacKay advised that the Council could not simply turn the clock back and re-open libraries immediately, but it could prepare solutions and a budget for a planned re-opening in 2024. She emphasised that the Council needed to learn from its mistakes, and noted that there had been previous attempts to close libraries as part of budget cuts, however these had not been taken in the end, albeit services and opening hours were greatly reduced. She stressed that all political parties had made mistakes when it came to libraries.

Ms MacKay added that she wanted to know if officers were giving Councillors all of the facts and information to help enable them to make informed decisions. She advised that the Save Aberdeen Libraries campaign group had presented Councillors with thousands of signatures and hundreds of letters from the public earlier in the year and questioned whether these had even been read.

Ms MacKay felt it was sad that the public felt they had no other option than to petition in the court of session before the Council would listen to them.

Ms MacKay highlighted problems with the ongoing library consultations which were confusing for the public in terms of there being multiple consultations ongoing at the same time, as well as the requirement for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.