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Councillor defends foreign trip for marine pollution conference in Denmark

Alan Donnelly
Alan Donnelly

A senior councillor in Aberdeen last night defended a taxpayer-funded trip to Denmark for a conference on sea pollution and oil spills.

Alan Donnelly, a Scottish Conservative and Unionist, is jetting off to Holstebro for the 24th Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljoorganisation (Kimo) annual meeting.

The three-night visit on October 3-5 for Mr Donnelly and a local authority official will cost an estimated £2,420.

The budget covers flights, hotels, taxi transfers and a £95-a-day living allowance.

The Labour-led council came under fire from Taxpayer Scotland last month after busting its foreign travel budget to approve two extra trips for depute provost John Reynolds.

The administration has insisted there is a direct benefit to local businesses from the overseas visits.

Torry and Ferryhill ward member Mr Donnelly went to the Kimo conference in the Faroe Islands last year.

Last night, he argued the trip was valuable, pointing out that Aberdeen was a long-standing member of Kimo, going back to the days of the former Grampian Regional Council.

Kimo works on a number of environmental projects, such as reducing marine litter, pollution and nuclear waste.

The organisation boasts more than 100 members.

He said: “There is always talk about these kinds of trips, but it is important for us to go because of the connections this area has with the North Sea oil and gas industry.

“There is the decommissioning agenda to discuss, there is dumping of bilgewater and ballast, plastic bottles, there are a lot of issues.”

An itinerary for the trip shows the first day is taken up by a board meeting, lunch and “national coordinators” meeting, followed by a dinner.

The second day features the conference itself, including a shopping tour and a civic dinner before the annual meeting and another lunch.

At a meeting of the enterprise, strategic planning and infrastructure (ESP&I) yesterday, councillors unanimously backed the plans.

However, SNP member John Corral questioned why the budget approval was coming to committee so late, when cheaper flights could have been sourced earlier. He also suggested the taxi transfer payments should be ditched in favour of public transport.

Mr Donnelly insisted he would be happy to use the “most cost-effective” transport available.