Trumpton

The problem with being 'holier than thou' is that if you aren't.....

The news that Alex Salmond met with the Trump representatives to discuss the planning application the day before the call-in decision was made is absolutely loaded with the possibility for innuendo, suspicion and public disgust.

As the mere Chair of the Planning Committee for four years I was scrupulous about meeting with and discussion planning applications with either the applicant or any objectors, and I tried to instil this ethos into the other members.

I can recall having a shouting match over the phone with a constituent who was trying to discuss an application that was coming to the next meeting (I forget if he was the applicant or objector) and I told him that I couldn't discuss the matter over the phone, and he would either have to write or meet with me with others present.

I recall a fellow Councillor meeting with objectors and the applicants to try to amend a planning proposal and then him actively campaigning for the revised proposal. Thankfully, he didn't attend the Committee to discuss the issue.

One only has to look at the inability of Councillors in the NW of Lewis to discuss the very contentious wind farm proposals before they were considered to realise just how careful you have to be.

Alex Salmond has acted in a manner that is obviously perceived to be improper, and that perception will not go away. If he wanted to appear squeeky clean, he should have met the Trump team a long time before (oops, he did, in New York) or AFTER the call-in had been announced.

This is a gross and disgraceful error, and leads one straight to the conclusion that money talks.

Just for the record, I think The Donald is committed to making big money, not committed to Scotland (or Ireland), and not committed to anything other than his own vanity. And, if the scheme is so important, then the chancers Government should have called it in before the Council came to a view.