Senior administration councillors in Aberdeen yesterday rejected criticism that political infighting is getting in the way of the decision-making process in the city.
Deputy local authority leader Marie Boulton defended the Labour-led coalition’s track record over its first year in charge following a scathing report from Audit Scotland published on Wednesday.
And Conservative group leader Fraser Forsyth said he was “shocked” that the public sector watchdog had taken issue with the length of council meetings.
But the opposition Liberal Democrat group argued councillors should treat the report “very seriously” and called for more constructive cross-party working for the benefit of the city.
The report, due to be considered next week, said “regularly disrespectful” behaviour was observed among members, which the auditors said was affecting the decision-making process.
The report also revealed the authority’s performance was “deteriorating” over the past year in nearly half of 47 areas that are assessed.
And Audit Scotland it highlighted the lack of a long term strategy to deal with a looming £20million budget shortfall over the next five years.
Independent Alliance group leader Mrs Boulton suggested, however, that criticism of the coalition administration was wide of the mark.
She said: “Of course there are differences, but I think we are all trying to do the right thing for the city.
“It is still early for this coalition, but I feel that we are making good progress and we are managing to get rid of a lot of the red tape and processes that held things up in the past.”
Tory councillor Mr Forsyth added: “I really was shocked to see we were being criticised for meetings taking a long time, surely the point of local democracy is to have rigorous debate.
“Audit Scotland seems to think that we should have a cosy consensus.
“I think it would be quite wrong if we were not debating issues in full.”
Liberal Democrat group leader Ian Yuill said the reported dip in more than half of the council’s performance ratings over 2012-13 was “a real cause for concern”.
He added: “This has happened on Labour’s watch and they need to say what they will be doing to reverse this alarming trend.”
But Labour group secretary Willie Young said his party would “take no lectures” from the Lib Dems on running the local authority.