MERKINCH Community Council’s minutes secretary, Alec MacLeod, came under heavy fire at the August meeting for the quality of his account of the council’s previous meeting in June.

Councillor Peter Corbett roundly condemned the intemperate language of the minutes which he said were making a laughing stock of the community council. He described Mr Macleod’s account of the development of Maclennan Crescent as rubbish. The amount of coverage given to the minutes secretary’s highly subjective views on this and criticism of Donnie Kerr were out of all proportion to that given to the council’s other business.

The delays at Maclennan Crescent were down to lack of money, and a great deal had been done by many people to further the work. He had not been present at the earlier meeting when Mr Macleod had criticised both Mr Corbett and most of the housing department over the matter.

Mr Kerr agreed, expressing his concern at what he described as a “tirade of nonsense”. He had taken deep offence at Mr MacLeod’s comments about himself. “This man is making total idiots of the Community Council,” he said. Mr Kerr, who has in the past been accused of similarly bringing the council into disrepute, was asked - as agreed in June - to apologise for previous comments. He did not, saying that Thursday nights didn’t suit him anyway and quit the room as chairman Ally MacLean asked him to leave.

There was then a general consensus to restore some gravitas to the Community Council’s deliberations. Brian Cain said that in the last six months little had been achieved because of personality clashes. Chairman Mr MacLean agreed. “I don’t want to see a slagging match at every meeting. The Community Council should be an organisation to be proud of,” he said.

In June Mr MacLeod offered his resignation as minutes secretary after complaining that his minutes had been edited in the typing. At that time he was persuaded to stay on.

• Police representative Ann Urquhart, the new community beat officer said how impressed she had been at the enthusiasm and commitment of all the agencies and volunteers she had met since her appointment.
• Clair Pieraccini of Merkinch Traders reported that the floral displays were up in Grant Street though there was no sign of the planned new lighting.
• Dell McClurg said that there had been few visitors at the Dolphin Centre this summer, but local people continued to give great support. One of the benches at Carnarc Point had been removed, and there were a couple of abandoned cars.
• Mr Cain reported it was all good news at SKRA. The Open Day had been a great success and many were impressed by the show-house. He gave tribute to the excellent work PC Alasdair Stewart had put in on the garden.
• The meeting agreed to nominate Morag Campbell for a Quality Award for her sterling work with the Breakfast Club.
• The Community Council’s next business meeting is on 10th October. On Friday 20th September the council is to mark its 25th anniversary with a cheese and wine social evening in the Community Centre.