Cromarty Firth by-election gets personal as candidate accuses sitting councillor of ‘betrayal’
A Cromarty Firth by-election candidate has launched a scathing and inaccurate attack on a sitting SNP councillor over the funding for a replacement to Park Primary school.
The issue of Highland Council’s failure to rebuild the school in the four years since it was destroyed in two fires has again come back to haunt the ward where it already provoked bitter divisions.
Cllr Maxine Smith and Cllr Tamala Collier were previously at loggerheads and the issue ended up at the standards commission with the former suspended for a month.
Independent candidate Tina McCaffery – who appears to be backed by Cllr Smith – accused Cllr Tamala Collier of failing to support plans to rebuild Park Primary while backing a new Inverness-area school.
Ms McCaffery expressed concern over the delay in rebuilding the primary, saying: "In February 2020, the school was tragically burned down, leading to the evacuation of children and staff, who were left with temporary school accommodation.
“The Highland Council recovered the insurance money and promised to rebuild the school as soon as possible. Yet, here we are, four years later, and nothing has happened. Our children deserve better.”
But then she attacked Cllr Collier’s record on the issue with reference to a vote in last September when the SNP-Independent administration reduced the infrastructure investment plan from £566 million to £343 million.
That entailed a series of massive U-turns by the administration that saw 10 long-promised schools, including Park, essentially defunded because borrowing was considered unaffordable but the projects remained on the capital programme.
She said: “It beggars belief that when the capital programme went to full council for voting, the SNP councillor for Cromarty Firth, Tamala Collier, did not support her fellow ward councillors—Molly Nolan (Lib Dem) and Independents Maxine Smith and Pauline Munro—in voting to retain the rebuilding of Park Primary School on the capital programme.
“Instead, she voted for a new school to be built at Tornagrain, Inverness. Though she faced significant backlash on social media at the time, this controversy seems to have been quietly swept aside."
That is inaccurate. Tornagrain Primary was always assured of construction through developer contributions and no councillor was presented with the option of not supporting it – including the amendment Cllr Smith offered to second.
Ms McCaffery is now calling for the issue to be revisited in the next available full council meeting after the by-election. "Council rules stipulate that a vote cannot be revisited for at least six months, and that time has now passed."
She went on to say: "It’s not only grossly unfair and irresponsible, but I believe many voters who supported the SNP candidate didn’t expect such a betrayal. I’m also concerned that other party colleagues could follow this troubling precedent."
But there was a vote to accept the new Highland Investment Plan within the last six months and includes Park Primary as well as others in a massively reformed investment programme – so the capital programme does not apply as it did.
Ms McCaffery concluded saying: “Voters need to trust that their representatives will act in their best interest, not in the interest of others. I urge voters to consider the actions of current councillors before casting their ballots on 26th September.”
Cllr Collier was shown the allegations and responded, saying: “I have always been fully committed to serving the best interests of the people in my ward, particularly the children of Invergordon and the wider Cromarty Firth community.
“I understand the frustration regarding the delays in rebuilding Park Primary School however, Ms McCaffery has misunderstood the decisions made by the Council as they affect Park Primary.
“Park Primary remains one of the priority schools for capital funding. It wasn’t a case of voting for Park or Tornagrain. Tornagrain was funded by developer contributions of £18 million.
“This was a time limited contribution therefore if the council didn’t approve that spending in September last year the funding would have been withdrawn. That had no impact on the budget available for the Park Primary rebuild which remains on the Capital plan.”
She added: “In May, councillors voted to approve the joint SNP-Independent Administration’s Highland Investment Plan worth £2 billion, which will realise over £1bn of capital investment for schools and roads over the next 10 years.
“Park Primary has been confirmed for investment in phase one which means the plans for the Park Primary rebuild continue to progress.”
What happened at the vote in September 2023?
There were exactly three options open to councillors. Back the administration motion to cut the capital programme as “unaffordable”, support the amendment to continue seeking funding or abstain entirely.
Option One: The Motion
Tabled by the SNP-Independent administration that is the council’s political leadership, the motion essentially sought to establish an infrastructure investment plan limited to £343 million, down from an estimated £566 million.
To do that the council had to remove funding allocations that had previously been awarded to schools, as well as other areas, but promised to revisit them if funding becomes available in the future.
It also asked councillors to recognise the financial risks of borrowing the amounts required to fulfil this programme, arguing strongly that it is unaffordable and to get another report on the capital programme next month.
This included supporting construction of Tornagrain Primary.
Cllr Collier voted for this option.
Option Two: The Amendment
Opposition leader Alasdair Christie tabled an amendment modifying the proposals which also included a number of lines about Park Primary in Invergordon.
The most significant change was to reject the proposal for the £343 million capital plan, retain for the time being all 10 schools funding to allow for more time to investigate potential solutions until a final budget could be set.
It also called for a Park Primary stakeholder group to be established involving councillors, the parent council and council officers. That group would review all options, including design, to replace Park Primary School. That the insurance receipt received for Park Primary School be allocated to the school.
And finally, that the sum of £15.5 million be allocated to Tornagrain Primary School taking account of the level of developers’ contributions.
This was the option supported by Cllrs Maxine Smith and the two members who resigned – prompting the current by-election – Molly Nolan and Pauline Munro.
