Tory leader Iain Whyte just blew a gasket – Steve Cardownie

Under the headline “What price democracy at Edinburgh Council?” in Monday’s Evening News, Councillor Iain Whyte, leader of the Conservative Group on the city council, used his ‘comment’ piece to attack the Capital Coalition, deeming it to be inherently undemocratic and intent on avoiding public scrutiny of major decisions.

This latest onslaught was prompted by the outcome of discussions on transport issues and in particular some proposed road closures to car traffic in the city centre.

The Conservatives were aggrieved that decisions were being made in haste and adequate consultation with affected stakeholders was sadly lacking.

He took the opportunity to highlight his concerns in this regard, stating: “No assessment had been made of the road space needed at junctions for pedestrians and cyclists to socially distance. No updated assessment of longer journey routes around closed or the displaced traffic has been made.” He continued: “A plan like this should have full consultation with the public and business and proper scrutiny in public for each decision.”

The policy and sustainability committee decided to delegate the authority for making decisions on the issue to the chief executive, along with the leader and deputy leader of the council, which has succeeded in blowing Cllr Whyte’s gasket.

The administration will argue that as some of the lockdown measures currently in force are likely to be eased shortly, they have to act quickly to adapt to what will be the ‘new normal’, dictating that the process has to proceed apace.

We will have to wait and see what “temporary measures” suddenly become permanent (a tried and trusted ploy) but in the meantime it would seem that the Conservatives will just have to like it or, as Cllr Whyte has demonstrated, lump it!