Five councillors slam Highland Council’s closure of Avonlea children’s home claiming officials ‘decided to protect their positions and status’ and ‘quash discontent’
Five Caithness councillors have fought for the last two years and eight months to find out what happened behind closed doors at Highland Council – and their verdict is damning.
Councillors Jan McEwan, Ron Gunn, Struan Mackie, Matthew Reiss and Andrew Jarvie have been pushing to get accurate information from the council since day one.
They told the Groat the council was not “open and transparent, with either the local members or the public” and officials “decided to protect their positions and status” and “quash discontent”.
In the end they resorted to freedom of information requests to find out what went on behind closed doors – information many believe they were and are entitled to know.
AVONLEA CLOSURE:
• The exclusive inside story on Highland Council’s handling of the troubled children’s care home
• Highland Council denies being ‘deceptive’ over the closure of Avonlea children’s home
• Five Caithness councillors issue damning verdict on Highland Council officials over Avonlea
The result was a series of emails about Avonlea that show who knew what and when, and which raise serious questions about the functioning of the council.
For speaking out about Avonlea, Cllr Jarvie lost the support of his then group leader Helen Crawford and ultimately felt he had to resign from the Conservatives.
He was brought before the standards commission for saying “I cannot help but feel that during this affair, I’ve been misled” in December 2022 but was exonerated.
“Now we see the behind-the-scenes discussions, which read as nothing short of an attempt to mislead by this council,” he said.
“It was always going to close, officials’ private discussions showed there was ‘no change in the plan’ for closure, but this truth was hidden from the public after the original closure announcement was publicly reversed.
“A children’s home was closed just two weeks before Christmas, we were promised it would not. The council won’t even allow an independent investigation to what went wrong. I have never come across an act so cruel and misleading.”
Matthew Reiss, the member for Thurso and Northwest Caithness, said he also felt misled.
Asked if he was impeded in doing his job as a councillor, he said “Yes, basically. By deception via briefings, press releases, answers in full council and simple silence from those who knew the truth since July 2022.
“We were able to recognise at a very early stage we were up against people in positions of great trust and responsibility who decided to protect their positions and status rather than simply state the truth, all of it.
“This could have been resolved by being honest with the public, the campaign groups, and of course their councillor colleagues.”
Perhaps most blistering of all is Struan Mackie, a councillor who is widely respected and who does not rush to judgement without due consideration.
“Members were at no point furnished with complete information, nor privy to the true intentions of the local authority to shut the Avonlea facility,” he said.
“The whole process, or lack thereof, will be reflected as a very dark period in the relationship between members, the community and the council.
“The council has been afforded the opportunity on multiple occasions to accept responsibility that this was managed poorly, improperly communicated and ultimately done with little to no member involvement or knowledge.
“Members repeatedly asked for a timeline of events, to know who took decisions at what juncture and to review the decision free of influence and pressure in the form of an external review.
“Given that it is now borne out in the black and white evidence included in the FOI requests that members were at best misled, members involved could rightly believe they are due an unreserved apology.”
Cllr Ron Gunn, the chairman of the Caithness committee, said: “There was a definite feeling that the community was being kept in the dark over the closure.
“The FOIs revealed when and who took the decision to close the home. They also revealed that officials taking the decision were reminded that local members should be consulted over the closure, of course this did not happen.
“The chair and vice chair of the health and social care committee were also informed but did not tell the committee until some eight months later, why?
“Lessons need to be learnt from this and let’s not forget the children, would things have been different if officials had done things differently?”
Cllr Jan McEwan said: “I lodged a motion last May for a full investigation into the closure of Avonlea which was defeated by one vote – from the convener. The public in Caithness are still asking questions as to why this facility closed.
“There was an inspection done which raised quite a few issues, which could have been easily resolved by senior management at Highland Council.
“The local councillors were advised in July that it wouldn’t be closed, the council would be reviewing the situation and the press release was an error.
“It is my opinion that the council did not consult with the local members and weren’t open and transparent, with either the local members or the public.
“I am hoping that the council will now consider having an independent review of the closure of Avonlea. The public has waited too long for answers.”
