Council candidates urged to think carefully before standing as by-election bill for Buckie tops £27k
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A BY-election called after a Buckie councillor resigned only 103 days into the job has cost Moray Council over £27,000.
Liberal Democrat Christopher Price stood down in August.
Mr Price was the first Lib Dem to sit on Moray Council since the multi-member ward system came into being in 2007.
He was one of three candidates who stood in the Buckie ward for the local government elections in May 2022. As there were only three seats available, he along with Sonya Warren and Neil McLennan did not face a vote.
The bill is a financial pressure on the council which has to find £28 million in savings over the next two years.
In total the cost of the by-election held in November last year is £27,024.05.
It has prompted calls for potential candidates to think carefully before deciding to stand.
Moray Labour group leader Sandy Keith said: “Obviously this is a £27,000 bill the council could have done without.
“Then councillor Christopher Price decided to stand down. The council held a by-election and that’s what it had to do.
“We said at the time it seemed to us he was a paper candidate, and it should be up to the Lib Dems to refund the council for that.
“Parties should be thinking of these things before their people go up for election.”
Mr Price is not the shortest serving Moray councillor.
Following local government elections in 2017, Independent Sandy Cooper stood down as a member for Elgin North after only a few days in the job.
While finding his role as a councillor “very fulfilling” co-leader of the SNP group Councillor Graham Leadbitter feels people should go into the job with their eyes open.
He said: “This is the second time in five years a councillor has resigned very shortly after taking office, with the resulting by-election being a significant cost to the council and the taxpayer.
“It should serve as a reminder to people considering standing for council that it is a very serious role that requires a very serious commitment of time and energy, that can be challenging to balance with other commitments.”
Conservative group leader Kathleen Robertson felt there were several issues leading to the “unfortunate” by-election.
She said: “There were not enough candidates putting themselves forward in the area to allow for a true election last May, political parties putting forward candidates who were not clearly briefed on what the role and time commitment of a councillor is and – regardless of the previous two reasons – the human factor which is people’s circumstances change.
“Better preparation of the candidate may have prevented the budget pressure. But the real issue is empowering the public to consider standing for election so communities have a true democratic process.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Liberal Democrats said becoming a councillor is a big transition personally and professionally.
They added: “And for Christopher it proved too much to balance his work for the Ministry of Defence with a councillor role.
“I think all parties would acknowledge that unfortunate situations such as this sometimes arise.
“Rather than clinging on to his position and the salary that goes with it, Christopher did the right thing to allow for the people of Buckie to elect a new representative.”
SNP candidate John Stuart won the Buckie by-election.
He takes the number of SNP members on the council to nine, the same as those in the Conservative administration.
There are also three Labour, two independents and a one Green councillor on the 26 member council.
Conservative councillor for Heldon and Laich James Allan is not a member of the administration and Buckie councillor Mr McLennan, who was co-leader of the ruling group and the council, now sits outside the administration as an Independent.
