Council Meeting for Torry Raac Victims Turns into Heated Row in Aberdeen Chamber

A council meeting aimed at helping Torry Raac victims turned into a heated row with claims that personal attacks were ‘becoming normalised’ in the Aberdeen council chamber.
The city’s Labour group called for a special meeting to “correct a wrong” they believed had been made at a recent meeting of the communities, housing and public protection committee.
They claimed that convener councillor Miranda Radley failed to allow a vote on options for Raac homeowners from being referred to full council for further debate.
Group members also argued that councillors were not told about specific powers they could have used at an urgent business meeting held last February regarding Raac.
They claimed that the council could have taken a different route of action if this had been known.
At the housing committee meeting last month, members discussed a number of potential actions for homeowners.
This included swapping properties for another of equal value or repairing roofs affected by the crumbly concrete.
One council rule states that immediately following a vote, one third of the committee may request to refer the matter to full council.
But councillor M. Tauqeer Malik noted this procedure did not happen.
If it had, he said the Labour group would have accepted the outcome and the special meeting wouldn’t have been needed.
He quipped: “Radley should not be proud of that governance, she doesn’t know what she is doing when she is chairing a meeting.
“I would suggest the SNP start to read and understand our standing orders to stop this happening again.”
Fellow Labour member Deena Tissera supported the call, saying: “This is not just a procedural debate, it’s about real people, homes and fear.
“Councillor Radley refused to allow a vote to bring the Raac viability proposals to full council.
“That decision is not just wrong and beyond her powers, but it shut down the voices of those we are elected to represent.”
She also claimed the move was a “blatant attempt to avoid scrutiny”.
But council co-leader Christian Allard fought back, telling the chamber that the convener had used her powers as per the rules.
The SNP member added: “Has there been a breach? No. If an informal vote had taken place, would it have been any different to the outcome? The answer is no.
“We are here today because the opposition wants to try and attack one of us.
“They are trying to find an interpretation of the standing orders which doesn’t add up.
He added: “Officers are clear this interpretation of the rules is wrong.”
Lib Dem councillor Martin Greig jumped into the row to tell the chamber that officers had confirmed councillor Radley’s actions were appropriate.
Fighting councillor Radley’s case, he said: “She has worked extraordinarily hard to protect the interests and wellbeing of the tenants and owners of Raac properties.”
However, he quickly turned on his Labour counterparts, claiming they were “wrong about the legal and technical questions and interpreted them incorrectly”.
Mr Greig even suggested what the chamber was hearing was a “desperate party-political broadcast”.
He added: “I’m sad that Labour’s motion is motivated by feelings of hatred and contempt.
“It’s not good to disparage your colleagues to score political points and sadly that’s becoming routine.
“Deriding individuals with personal attacks is almost becoming normalised in this chamber.
“You are seeking to turn this council into a place where no one can trust anything that we do and that doesn’t help any of us, it helps those forces of darkness out there.”
The councillor even went as far as to say the party was “normalising hatred and the destruction of the democratic process”.
In a final dig, councillor Malik claimed it was “a sad day for democracy”.
And he explained why he believed the Raac crisis should have been handled much differently.
He said: “The administration was panicking, we told them to hold off and discuss all options.
“They ignored and now they are finding things tough because they rushed into a decision without fully understanding the issue and all of the implications.
“The SNP administration has got this so wrong from day one… They’ve shown no leadership and buried their heads in the sand.”
But despite fighting his corner, it wasn’t enough as councillors voted to take no further action. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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