MP astonished by councillor's letter

The Courier, 20 February 1999

The Controversy over comments made by a leading member of the administration of Fife Council over the vote which led to rejection of the £50 million hotel, conference and golf proposal for Kingask intensified yesterday.

North East Fife MP Menzies Campbell, a leading QC, said that he was astonished by “almost certainly defamatory” allegations which had been’ repeated in a letter written by transportation spokesperson Helen Eadie.

The MP was referring to a question asked by Councillor Eadie in a letter to the chairman of the council’s East Area development committee, Councillor Peter Douglas.

Claiming that “an observer who witnessed the day‘s events” had alleged that the Liberal Democrats had decided the issue before the meeting took place, Councillor Eadie asked Mr Douglas if this had been the case.

The suggestion has already led to furious responses from everyone who took part in what turned out be a close vote and lengthy debate.

One of the committee members, Independent James Braid, who supported the Kingask plans, described Councillor Eadie’s comments as “shocking and irresponsible”.

In addition to receiving the letter, Councillor Douglas was also faced with a call from Labour councillor, John Cameron, for his resignation from the Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board. He has declined to take any such action.

Mr Campbell said yesterday the the response to the decision taken by the area development committee had been “appalling”.

“These allegations are an unwarranted attack on the integrity of those who dealt fully and comprehensively with the application.

“It may be the sort of thing that councillor Eadie has met on occasions in the Labour Party, but it is not how we do business In the Liberal Democrats.

“I know personally all of the members of the the East Fife area development committee, in some cases over 20 years, and I can vouch for their conscientiousness and impartiality”.

Mr Campbell said that to suggest that there was some kind of collusive arrangement to refuse the application was not borne out by the vote.

He said that the comments amounted to an allegation that the councillors involved failed in their public duty and conspired to do so.

“The allegation of collusion is almost certainly defamatory. Anybody who knows Peter Douglas will regard criticism of his objectivity as being wholly unjustified, and beneath contempt.”

Yesterday the vice-chairman of St Andrews community council, Dr Frank Riddell, added his voice to the chorus of criticism and said that the “vicious sniping attacks” on councillor Douglas should stop.

Councillors in the Labour administration such as Mrs Eadie and Mr Cameron, he said, were no strangers to caucus politics, and they should apologise or what had been said.

The Labour councillors, he said, should accept the decision which had been made by the appropriate committee of the council.

Yesterday another of the councillors who supported the application, Liberal Democrat Anthony Garrett, said the comments in Councillor Eadie’s letter were “totally out of order and irresponsible”.

A former chairman of North East Fife District Council’s Planning Committee, and a leading member of the Liberal Democrat group in East Fife, Mr Garrett said that decisions were never made before meetings.