AN SNP councillor who failed to declare that he lived across the road from a proposed £350 million Inverclyde housing project while voting to curtail the development has been found to have breached the Code of Conduct for Councillors.
Councillor Innes Nelson backed a recommendation to impose a 270-home cap on the number of houses which could be built on the IBM site in Greenock at a planning board meeting in March 2, 2022, which the site owners said would make the project unviable.
Legal representatives of site owners James and Sandy Easdale immediately questioned the decision due to the councillor not declaring that he owned a property on the opposite side of the dual carriage way into the site, and lodged a complaint with the Ethical Standards Commissioner in Edinburgh.
The commissioner has now found that the ward six representative contravened three parts of the code by not revealing his property nearby and his previously expressed concerns about development on the site.
The Ethical Standards Commissioner will now forward their findings to The Standards Commission for Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel