Councillor up in arms over Drummuie chimney 'scandal'
HIGHLAND Council has come under fire over its handling of a chimney stack reconstruction project at its north headquarters at Drummuie in Golspie.
Local councillor Graham Phillips said officials created "a scandal" out of what should have been a straight-forward repair job to the structure, after it was seen swaying in gale-force winds.
The SNP ward member, who covers East Sutherland and Edderton, claimed planning officers wasted time deliberating with Historic Scotland over how the 112-year-old listed structure should be re-built.
He said they should have taken the experts’ advice and started work immediately because the delay has left the taxpayer to pick up a "£30,000" tab for "enormous and elaborate" scaffolding that has been supporting the chimney since it almost collapsed in November 2013.
The comments were made at a meeting of the north area planning applications committee on Tuesday.
Members were asked to approve plans to repair the 20-tonne chimney stack more than two years after council staff were evacuated when the 20ft structure on the three-storey north wing was seen to be swaying, and ominous creaking noises were heard within the building.
At the meeting on Tuesday it was agreed that the preferred option, out of six, was to reconstruct it to its original height but also increase the thickness of the structure.
The estimated cost for this option is £125,000.
Golspie Community Council had objected to the application, noting that the chimney did not add to the visual appearance of the building and would not be missed.
But Councillor Phillips supported the move to repair the chimney.
He said: "I’m glad a compromise has been reached but there is no reason why we couldn’t have been in this position a year ago if council officials had taken a different approach. By the time this gets sorted out we will have spent something in the order of £30,000 on scaffolding. It’s very complicated scaffolding – it’s got a staircase on it for heaven’s sake."
Bob Robertson, principal planner at Highland Council, said: "There have been various technical discussions between the council and Historic Scotland and it took some time to reach agreement."
