Cromarty Firth councillor Sinclair Coghill joins Highland Alliance group in a bid for ‘a platform where I can better represent and raise the concerns of the constituents’
Cromarty Firth councillor Sinclair Coghill has joined the Highland Alliance group having sat as a backbencher since he was elected at the September by-election, in a bid for “a platform where I can better represent and raise the concerns of the constituents”.
He becomes the eighth member of the group which is the fourth largest in Highland Council after the SNP (21), Lib Dems (15); Highland Independent (16); and ahead of the Tories, Greens, Labour and Alba.
Of the 74 councillors, the administration is made up of exactly half while the others are either in the opposition (36) or remain unaligned like Cllr Thomas MacLennan who quietly left the Highland Independents some months ago.
Cllr. Sinclair Coghill said: “I feel that joining an alliance of similarly minded and committed independent Highland councillors, it will immediately enable me to become a voting member of the strategic committees and being present at these committees as a voting member, while still remaining independent and un-whipped by any political party bosses to vote against my will or conscience.
“It provides a platform where I can better represent and raise the concerns of the constituents of the Cromarty Firth Ward who recently elected me.”
Co-leader of the Highland Alliance Duncan Macpherson welcomed him to the group saying: “His membership of the Highland Alliance will allow him to obtain a seat and voting rights at the key strategic committees – as the membership of committees are allocated on political balance of the parties and groups on Highland Council.
“It’s always more difficult for an independent candidate to become a councillor, because they’re not funded and supported by a political party machine to run their election campaign for them.
“That commitment to their local cause certainly makes the independent councillors much more determined to succeed and once elected, to get things done for their constituents.”
