Battery Project - Chairman's Statement

[lightlamp2]

3 hours ago, tm4tj said:

As a floorshow, here's the Duncan MacPherson v Convener bitchfest...

That was disgraceful. He was out of order for bringing up relevant points. Where as Oldham could lie about non existent intimidating emails that his fellow councillors rubbished immediately after. 
 

You even had one councillor making reference to her safety and drawing comparisons to how MP’s like Jo Cox were murdered. All because we sent in emails. 
 

It’s clear many on the Highland Council believe they are above us. And free from any and all criticism

Edited March 15 by lightlamp2

[Charles Bannerman]

25 minutes ago, Douglas Mackenzie said:

Highland Council were happy for five of them (Councillors) to make a decision on this one,until three of the five voted in 'favour' and went off script. This was deemed a bad look. Then they scrambled about,broke a few rules and arranged the vote to go to the full Council. At this meeting we have the laughing show piece of Councillor MacPherson versus the Convener,three Councilors abstain,six cannot take part because of their interests ,or what they previously said or discussed on the issue,23 voted for and 30 against and this is deemed a good look. They are a laughing stock and it shows us all that when you put a group of unqualified people in a room and ask them to make key decisions on our future and that of the community,anything can happen. This is a classic example of you get what you voted for. Just a pit more people would not show an interest in local elections and vote for people that can do the job.

In this case we have an area of 2% of the land available,which I understand is waste ground that could be turned into something thatwould generate income for ITC,but as important all the community work they do.In fact it would allow them to enhance all that and better serve the community at large in many ways. Unfortunately I guess politics came into play and blinded the views of some of these Councillors who were unable to open their eyes to the bigger picture.

As for the club,  credit where it is due for pursuing this idea, just a pity that they had to come up against the great and good of HIghland Council.

In 1995 Inverness District Council voted for a £900,000 grant to the club, of existential significance, to make the stadium project viable. On the strength of that, construction contracts were let - and then a cabal of councillors and council officials managed to find a technicality which they used to create a rearguard action against payment. The eventual outcome of a chaotic scenario was that, under threat of legal action, the cash was paid from the Common Good Fund.

Fast forward to 2024 and Highland Council’s planning process made a decision to allow a battery farm, again of existential significance, worth £3.4 million to the club, but now another huge spanner has been thrown in these works in the form of another rearguard action by councillors (and possibly council officials as well) who don’t like this decision and are again intent on reversing it amid rumblings of legal action. Our local councils don’t seem to learn much from previous episodes of chaos that they’ve created.

Edited March 15 by Charles Bannerman

[lightlamp2]

Clearly this Councillor doesn’t have any sort of agenda against us. Nope!

[Yngwie]

I took a screenshot of the live stream.

[STFU]

Since we're all posting images....

[Yngwie]

1 minute ago, STFU said:

Since we're all posting images....

Not as funny as the others

[dougal]

Ok I have maybe mentioned this once or twice before but never ever underestimate the contempt from Invernessians towards ICT some might even call it hatred.
I can’t think of any other large town or city in Scotland whose inhabitants do not engage with their local team. 

This whole Battery fiasco has damaged our reputation further which was already rock bottom after the concert travesty. 

The email campaign to councillors was also a complete disaster.  I’m not saying all emails would have been nonsense but it only takes one or two illiterate halfwits to ruin the whole exercise which certainly seems to have happened here.

So the Highland Council are now all of a sudden the bad guys. This would be the same Council who gifted The club 900k to build the dump out of the Inverness common good fund.  Short memories eh? 

Where this leaves us I do not know but the lack of communication from the so called guardians says it all. The Council are not to blame here the incompetent boards past and present are!!!!

 

Dougal

 

 

 

 

[old caley girl]

2 hours ago, lightlamp2 said:

That was disgraceful. He was out of order for bringing up relevant points. Where as Oldham could lie about non existent intimidating emails that his fellow councillors rubbished immediately after. 
 

You even had one councillor making reference to her safety and drawing comparisons to how MP’s like Jo Cox were murdered. All because we sent in emails. 
 

It’s clear many on the Highland Council believe they are above us. And free from any and all criticism

Did think that very odd! Surely being lobbied in a respectful manner is part of being a Cllr. 

[+DoofersDad]

Chairman Ross Morrison made the following statement to give fans an update on the week’s events.

“The club notes with bewilderment and disappointment, yesterday’s refusal of the ICT Battery Farm planning application.”

“Without going into everything that happened, it was an especially mystifying decision given that no new evidence was provided which was worthy of overturning the previous progressive and lawful vote in February to grant us planning. We can however confirm that we are appealing the decision to the Scottish Govt.”

“While this bizarre decision to overturn our previous successful planning application was a set-back to our robust and long term business plan, we will consolidate and pull together as a Board and a club as we have done many times in our history both on and on the field.”

“We want to thank the hundreds of Caley Thistle fans and the businesses and organisations who have been entirely supportive in our quest to improve the club’s financial model and the city’s energy security. “

“On behalf of the Board and as we move into our historic thirtieth year and a crucial end of season period, we need to show that by sticking together and sticking to our values, by backing Duncan and the team, nothing can stop us getting to where we want to be this season and in our next 30 years.”

#TogetherNess

 

I understand the frustration, but it is this type of confrontational language which stirred up the opponents of the scheme in the first place.  It should be noted that when the application was originally submitted, the Community Council within which the site sits, did not even bother to respond to the application despite being directly consulted by the Council.  That lack of response is probably a much better reflection of the level of concern of local residents than we were led to believe yesterday.  It is only when the club came out with all guns blazing that any meaningful opposition and safety concerns emerged.  

The applicants had satisfied the planners on the initial planning concerns and it was only the green space issue which was outstanding.  My view is that the response to this concern, that the planting of trees and shrubs would both increase the biodiversity and carbon capture of the site, would have won over sufficient councillors to get the application through.  It was the CC's very belated concerns regarding safety which probably tipped the vote the other way.

Then, of course, there is the point that the applicants chose not to use the Council's Pre-application Consultation Service.  Had they done so, they might have had a better understanding of what the potential obstacles were and therefore submitted an original application which addressed those concerns.  It might then have got approval without all the rancour and controversy.

Given that this whole episode is one massive own goal by the club, I would have hoped for a bit of humility and contrition in this statement.  Sadly, it is not to be and it is all getting a bit embarrassing.

 

[dougiedanger]

The arrogance and entitlement are appalling again in that statement. All the emotive language and the general toys out of the pram attitude will win no one over and is no doubt a major cause of this calamity.

Edited March 15 by dougiedanger

[dougal]

24 minutes ago, dougiedanger said:

The arrogance and enthusiasm are appalling again in that statement. All the emotive language and the general toys out of the pram attitude will win no one over and is no doubt a major cause of this calamity.

Well said Danger all that’s missing is “No-one likes but we don’t care” WATP

The similarities between ICT and the old Rangers is uncanny let’s hope we don’t end up in the same predicament. 

Teuchters trying to act like the old firm is not a good route to go down we are a lot better than that.

Dougal
 

 

 

 

[Yngwie]

46 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Chairman Ross Morrison made the following statement to give fans an update on the week’s events.

“The club notes with bewilderment and disappointment, yesterday’s refusal of the ICT Battery Farm planning application.”

“Without going into everything that happened, it was an especially mystifying decision given that no new evidence was provided which was worthy of overturning the previous progressive and lawful vote in February to grant us planning. We can however confirm that we are appealing the decision to the Scottish Govt.”

“While this bizarre decision to overturn our previous successful planning application was a set-back to our robust and long term business plan, we will consolidate and pull together as a Board and a club as we have done many times in our history both on and on the field.”

“We want to thank the hundreds of Caley Thistle fans and the businesses and organisations who have been entirely supportive in our quest to improve the club’s financial model and the city’s energy security. “

“On behalf of the Board and as we move into our historic thirtieth year and a crucial end of season period, we need to show that by sticking together and sticking to our values, by backing Duncan and the team, nothing can stop us getting to where we want to be this season and in our next 30 years.”

#TogetherNess

 

I understand the frustration, but it is this type of confrontational language which stirred up the opponents of the scheme in the first place.  It should be noted that when the application was originally submitted, the Community Council within which the site sits, did not even bother to respond to the application despite being directly consulted by the Council.  That lack of response is probably a much better reflection of the level of concern of local residents than we were led to believe yesterday.  It is only when the club came out with all guns blazing that any meaningful opposition and safety concerns emerged.  

The applicants had satisfied the planners on the initial planning concerns and it was only the green space issue which was outstanding.  My view is that the response to this concern, that the planting of trees and shrubs would both increase the biodiversity and carbon capture of the site, would have won over sufficient councillors to get the application through.  It was the CC's very belated concerns regarding safety which probably tipped the vote the other way.

Then, of course, there is the point that the applicants chose not to use the Council's Pre-application Consultation Service.  Had they done so, they might have had a better understanding of what the potential obstacles were and therefore submitted an original application which addressed those concerns.  It might then have got approval without all the rancour and controversy.

Given that this whole episode is one massive own goal by the club, I would have hoped for a bit of humility and contrition in this statement.  Sadly, it is not to be and it is all getting a bit embarrassing.

 

Some of that criticism is somewhat unfair and overlooks the fact that the club went through the proper process got it through planning permission, they did it. Nobody could have predicted the highly irregular manoeuvre that happened next. 

[STFU]

It feels like Gardiner and Morrison are getting off on the drama and fighting.

Let's not forget that we've seen this kind of aggressive reaction aimed directly at fans with comments about 'clickbait proponents' and the streaming fiasco where fans were told they didn't know what they were talking about, and exaggerating the poor quality of the auto tracking camera setup.

Sadly, they also duped many fans into joining them with the intimidation tactics in the mass emailing of councillors.  Some may prefer the political term of lobbying, but the very definition of that is 'influence by intimidation'.  If the implication of that 'lobbying' is the loss of a vote/support, it is then also a threat.

[Satan]

27 minutes ago, dougal said:

Well said Danger all that’s missing is “No-one likes but we don’t care” WATP

The similarities between ICT and the old Rangers is uncanny let’s hope we don’t end up in the same predicament. 

Teuchters trying to act like the old firm is not a good route to go down we are a lot better than that.

Dougal
 

 

 

 

Hail, hail.

[STFU]

16 minutes ago, STFU said:

It feels like Gardiner and Morrison are getting off on the drama and fighting.

Let's not forget that we've seen this kind of aggressive reaction aimed directly at fans with comments about 'clickbait proponents' and the streaming fiasco where fans were told they didn't know what they were talking about, and exaggerating the poor quality of the auto tracking camera setup.

Sadly, they also duped many fans into joining them with the intimidation tactics in the mass emailing of councillors.  Some may prefer the political term of lobbying, but the very definition of that is 'influence by intimidation'.  If the implication of that 'lobbying' is the loss of a vote/support, it is then also a threat.

Just to be clear.  I'm not against lobbying, but I disagree with the claims that it's not intimidation.

[Satan]

A lot would disagree with claims that it was intimidation, i bet some of these councillors love a good email, especially when it's to blow smoke up their arses.

Surely public officials with online  contact details should expect some correspondence from time to time...someone has to let them know how great they are ffs.

Or are we all snowflakes now?

[lightlamp2]

1 hour ago, dougiedanger said:

The arrogance and entitlement are appalling again in that statement. All the emotive language and the general toys out of the pram attitude will win no one over and is no doubt a major cause of this calamity.

Spot on. The club should just lie down and accept NIMBY councillors who prioritise sledging over 3 and a half million for a local business without kicking up a fuss.

 

The Council have a lot of integrity and really have the best wishes of Inverness at its heart. You can see this from how they gave us the UNESCO registered bridge built on the river ness. And thank god they had the resolve to ignore the 99% of residents here who wanted to save the ironworks. And voted to turn it into a hotel. 
 

God bless the councillors. Who know better than us. Our club should be ashamed of daring to speak out against our betters

[wilsywilsy]

I just knew this thread wouldn’t disappoint tonight. Lots of hand wringing about the council and the ICT characters behind this planning application - some very justified and some utterly wild takes too. Great read nonetheless. 

Hat tip to @DoofersDad for consistently being a voice of reason.

[wilsywilsy]

15 minutes ago, Satan said:

A lot would disagree with claims that it was intimidation, i bet some of these councillors love a good email, especially when it's to blow smoke up their arses.

Surely public officials with online  contact details should expect some correspondence from time to time...someone has to let them know how great they are ffs.

Or are we all snowflakes now?

Ach it’s subjective, isn’t it. Unfortunately the club personalised it with regular barbed digs at Oldham and MacLennan in the media. I don’t think it’s a leap to think they in particular found it all a bit intimidating. 

[Satan]

13 minutes ago, wilsywilsy said:

Ach it’s subjective, isn’t it. Unfortunately the club personalised it with regular barbed digs at Oldham and MacLennan in the media. I don’t think it’s a leap to think they in particular found it all a bit intimidating. 

The digs were at these two I suppose because it was their shitshow that they lost control of... but if you're in public office, for the greater good or personal gain you are putting yourself and whatever irrational decisions you make up for debate.

This is not to be confused with a polite email now & again.

To be fair , if you're active on  'x' you will probably be experienced at media manipulation and the outcomes one can achieve, and will more likely than not enjoy the attention .

Edited March 15 by Satan

[Satan]

Not sure if folk haven't been reading one of the previous statements by mustake as I thought this one was quite restrained and fact based (apart from the nonsense about bewilderment at the result - it was a shoe-in) before going on to thank x y and z for support in 30th year, etc.

[wilsywilsy]

25 minutes ago, Satan said:

if you're in public office, for the greater good or personal gain you are putting yourself and whatever irrational decisions you make up for debate.

Absolutely true. Scrutiny comes with the territory of public office. I think the club and media being so direct and barbed about it opened the door to those intimidation claims. 

And I agree today’s statement was less bad. Certainly a big step forward from yesterday’s cry-bully junk from Gardiner. 

[GaliantGrunt]

I’m done with all this! Could we not just merge with Loch Ness f.c. change our name to Invernessie CT, get her marketed on our gear and Bobs your Uncle!

[STFU]

1 hour ago, Satan said:

A lot would disagree with claims that it was intimidation, i bet some of these councillors love a good email, especially when it's to blow smoke up their arses.

Surely public officials with online  contact details should expect some correspondence from time to time...someone has to let them know how great they are ffs.

Or are we all snowflakes now?

Lots of people disagree that the world is spherical, doesn't make them right.

[Robert]

14 minutes ago, GaliantGrunt said:

I’m done with all this! Could we not just merge with Loch Ness f.c. change our name to Invernessie CT, get her marketed on our gear and Bobs your Uncle!

We will need to move quickly. Loch Ness are in talks with Strathspey Thistle about a merger….