South Ayrshire Council without leader, depute leader or provost after explosive meeting

South Ayrshire has no leader, depute leader or provost following a chaotic week at Ayr County Buildings.

At the beginning of the week council leader Martin Dowey said he would step aside while an investigation took place into alleged promises to help a businessman win a multi-million pound contract.

But it wasn’t until depute leader Bob Pollock, who has criticised Dowey’s conduct, had been removed from his post and provost Iain Campbell had resigned in protest at the behaviour of colleagues on Friday, that Cllr Dowey finally followed up on his promise to quit.

There was a failed attempt to secure a vote of no confidence by Labour group leader Duncan Townson after he discovered that Cllr Dowey was still leader.

A proposal was put forward to remove Troon councillor Bob Pollock from his position as depute leader, a role he had only been in for around nine months having replaced Lee Lyons.

The Conservatives insisted this was down to their view that the number of independent councillors in the administration merited the position.

Councillor Kenneth Bell said that the proposal was simply to reflect the number of Independent councillors in the cabinet and the relationship with the Conservative group.

He claimed that there had been a ‘strong and stable’ administration in place with Conservatives working with independents.

However, there was significant opposition, both from within and without.

Labour group leader Duncan Townson referred to the issue of councillor Dowey’s future as leader. He said: “At this point in time we have matters that are outwith the council’s control and are being aired publicly in newspapers across the country.

“I have serious concerns that any decision made by the current leadership should be put on hold until such matters are resolved.

“I’m not supporting this just because I think it as a way to get a little dig in. That is not my intention.

“My intention is the integrity of this council it is to make sure that our reputation is not further damaged.

“This is not a slight on Cllr Connolly at all. He has my respect and he knows that.”

Councillor Pollock echoed the concerns and said his priority was finding a way to rebuild trust, not only with the public, but also council officers who had been described as ‘f****** useless’ by Cllr Dowey.

He said: “I would like to make something quite clear. I was elected as a Conservative representative by the people of Troon.

“I find myself in a very difficult position because I disagree with the way some in our party have been behaving. And I am quite frankly disappointed at a national level that the party hasn’t intervened in this.

“I am still a Conservative and I am keen to try and restore public faith in a that brand. I will remain a Conservative until such time as either the party and group decide that they no longer wish me.”

He said that he was not questioning the integrity of Cllr Connolly who was being lined up as his replacement.

“We have lost the faith of the public that elect us into office.

“We are duty bound to try and restore that trust. I think working collegiately with the opposition and independent group is the way forward to do that.

“I’ll make no bones about it. I have been speaking to others try and establish a common ground to get that public trust back.

“The trust of officers is equally important. I believe that trust is currently broken. We need a functioning council working closely together.

“My proposal would be to open up two positions to the opposition groups on cabinet, in terms of making administration, if it remains in power, as open and honest as it can be.”

He said that whoever is elected depute will then be ‘de facto’ leader ‘if Cllr Dowey ever does what he has said to the press and steps aside’.

That would then trigger an extraordinary meeting of the council to choose another leader and another depute.

Independent councillor Alec Clark, who was a part of the last administration together with Labour and the SNP along with councillor Connolly, backed his colleague, suggesting that in the current situation, ‘the very best thing would be a fresh face in the leadership’.

Councillor Ian Cavana pointed out that Cllr Pollock had only replace Lee Lyons as Depute Leader nine months ago.

The council would eventually vote 14-13 in favour of removing councillor Pollock from the depute role.

However, the interjection with a slur of one of those attending online and the subsequent resignation of Provost Iain Campbell and the suspension of proceedings prevented the appointment of Cllr Connolly and means that there is no leader, depute leader or provost in South Ayrshire.