Flames of democracy doused

Further to my recent post about the politics of the Tayside Fire Joint Board, the Dundee press has reported some interesting comments from Christina Roberts, who is vice convenor of the board and a Dundee City councillor.

It should be recalled that Tayside Fire & Rescue chiefs have proposed transferring resources from the Balmossie fire station in the east end of Dundee to the town of Forfar in Angus on the basis that the latter facility is the busier of the two stations, yet is currently manned by part-time/retained firefighters. The move would ensure parity of full-time dayshift cover between Balmossie and Forfar, but firefighters, many residents and most politicians in Dundee have opposed the move. However, the board convenor and two vice convenors - including Ms Roberts - have generally supported the proposed change.

Last week Dundee City Council voted unanimously against the move, but Ms Roberts is reported as saying:

I just sat there and listened to it. I was in the room, but when they all said they agreed with the motion I said nothing. It was 28 against — I didn’t see the point of doing or saying anything. It wouldn’t have changed anything anyway. They had already made the decision that they were going with the motion.

This seems bizarre, since surely as a point of principle and to ensure the vote was more representative of true opinion then the councillor's dissent should have been noted?

Perhaps, as alluded to in her quote, Ms Roberts felt so overwhelmed by the opposition against the plan that she felt she had no other choice but to fall into line? Indeed, regarding last year's fire board meeting to consider the proposal first time round, the Evening Telegraph says:

Ms Roberts also claimed fire board members had been “intimidated” by the presence of so many FBU members at last year’s vote on the Balmossie plan.“We have had some councillors saying they went along with the vote because they knew it was going to fail,” she said. “They felt intimidated when they went to the meeting.”

Thus might Ms Roberts have felt intimidated by the strength of opposition at the more recent Dundee City Council vote, hence her failure to register her dissent?

But she also points out that the city council doesn't constitute the whole fire board - which also comprises representatives from Angus and Perth & Kinross councils - and opines:

When you go into a fire board meeting you don't take political baggage with you - you are there to do the best you can for the whole of Tayside.

But let's recall what fellow Dundee City councillor and fire board member Rod Wallace said:

I am a councillor who is also on the fire board, so I have that additional responsibility. But the views of my electorate come first.

Which seems to completely contradict what Ms Roberts says regarding the duties of fire board members. It should also be recalled that MSP Shona Robison said: "It would be wrong for Fire Board members to vote along party political or geographical lines."

But as I pointed out last time round, Ms Robison then seemed to contradict this ethos by emphasising the needs of the people of Dundee, while Ms Roberts says, "They [the Fire Brigades Union] have not mentioned Forfar at all. This is not just about Dundee, but about Forfar and the area around Forfar, too. Sometimes they can't get a full crew out. What about them?"

Of course, as I said previously, despite the overtly political nature of the stance of most of the politicians, the issue is certainly not causing partisan division. Instead, the dispute is largely geographical and born of crude electoral advantage based on the (perceived?) wishes of voters.

Which is all very well for Ms Robison et al, since they are not members of the fire board, but how she/they expect members of that body to decide the issue on a pan-Tayside basis rather than on the needs of Dundee per se when her/their own opinion is so crudely swayed is fundamental to the self-evident democratic deficit here.

Of course, we all know that democracy is imperfect, but this relatively minor issue serves to underline the undemocratic nature of much of the country's decision making process, hidden as it is behind the usual fine words and phrases such as "consultation", "accountability" and "transparency".