Inverness Central Councillor Bet McAllister to retire in June after 17 years
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Long-standing Councillor Bet McAllister has revealed that she is standing down in June after 17 years as the member for Inverness Central.
Cllr McAllister confirmed her intention to retire at this week’s housing and property committee meeting where her length of service as well as that of her late husband Bill was warmly praised by other councillors.
Despite her length of service voters continued to keep faith with her and she was re-elected two years ago but sadly the following year her husband Bill died and she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren.
Veteran Liberal Democrat member Alex Graham asked for some time at the end of the meeting because, as he said, he “did not want to let this go past” without saying a few words as “Councillor McAllister just said that this is her last housing committee meeting”.
He said: “I hope it didn't hear you right but I think I did so I just wanted to say, and I'm sure we all share this, that 17 years ago this week Bet got elected to the Highland Council along with Janet Campbell, Donnie Kerr, and Peter Corbett, and over the years the personnel in that ward has changed.
“But Bet is still here for a very short period of time but I just wanted to say that it has been a fantastic 17 years of service by Bet not just to the council but to the residents of Inverness Central.
“As Bet said earlier, Inverness Central has the maximum number of council houses, I think it's about 1900 council properties in the ward, which is well over 10 per cent of the council housing stock.
“And Bet has spent a lot of her time helping and supporting these tenants in Dalneigh, the Carse and South Kessock and in other areas of the ward so she has dedicated a bit part of her life to that.
“Her late husband Bill was a district councillor in Inverness for 19 years from 1977 to 1996 – I shared 16 of those years with Bill – so the McAllister family have dedicated 36 years of their lives to council service of this city and this area.
“So I wanted to show my own appreciation of that, thank you Bet, thank you for all you have done.”
