| Councillor Guild says Councillor Keenan’s outburst on Monday questioning the impartiality of the housing regulator which produced the damning report on the state of Dundee city council’s housing department was “disgraceful,” and says he is awaiting the administration leader’s decision on whether he will write to the regulator.
Councillor Keenan had questioned the timing of the report’s publication and suggested the SNP Government may have pressured the housing regulator to publish it just three days before tomorrow’s crucial by-election in Maryfield, which could affect the balance of power in the council.
The SNP councillor has asked Mr Keenan to withdraw his remarks about the regulator but the Labour councillor has confirmed he would not do so, adding, “I am considering writing to the Scottish Housing Regulator about the matter.”
Attempts by the Evening Telegraph to contact Councillor Keenan today were unsuccessful and it is still unclear whether or not he has decided to do so.
Councillor Guild said today, “I am awaiting his response and if I don’t get it I will be taking legal advice on whether to report him to the commission.
“It’s quite disgraceful and the SNP suspect that he’s done this very much with an awareness of the Maryfield by-election in mind.
“This report would have come out whether there was a by-election looming or not and the findings would have been the same.
“It’s their fault it came out when it did because they appealed it.
“We said at the time ‘accept the report, it’s a bad one, and let’s get down to doing something about it,’ but they appealed it.
“I’m very surprised and disappointed in Councillor Keenan because I thought he had more sense than that.” |
