Vet and hopeful for Council Kathleen Robertson tells Tory conference about her community council experience
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IN a speech to the Scottish Conservative Party conference, a prospective Forres councillor told a packed hall about her experience boosting the local community.
Kathleen Robertson, a local vet hoping for good luck at the May 5 Council election, spoke at a session named Stronger Communities and Local Government in the main conference auditorium.
Her five minute speech focussed on her experience of empowering communities and spearheading Community Asset Transfer.
After defining what community empowerment meant for her, she raised issues with how things are implemented in local communities.
She said: "Unfortunately, their experience of empowerment is all but empowering.
"Too many times, the Council fails to respect and involve local groups or community councils in decisions about local assets and services.
"We are always an afterthought.
"This is because a local Council sees community involvement as a way to get consent for decisions they have already made."
Speaking after her speech, she said: "It was quite daunting.
"I am not nervous about public speaking, but it was actually more speaking about a subject that is fairly new to me.
"And speaking to an audience where they probably know a lot more than I do – that's quite scary.
Ms Robertson took the stage a mere two hours before Prime Minister Boris Johnson's much-awaited performance.
She said: "I didn't know, until I went round the back of the stage, that he was definitely coming.
"He has had a pretty busy week dealing with Ukraine, the P&O crisis, with oil prices and all the rest of it.
"Suddenly he is coming up to Aberdeen and, yes, two hours after me he is on the same stage!"
The conference also gave Ms Robertson a chance to learn about the role of being a councillor.
She attended numerous events at the conference to talk to councillors from across Scotland and to recieve advice.
She said: "There was a fringe session this morning called the Scottish Conservative Councillor's Association, where they were giving some good advice on what being a councillor is all about and who is there to support you.
"So that was good, there is more to come yet I think!"
If elected, Ms Robertson's plans are centred on education and social care problems in Moray.
She said: "Education is my top priority, particularly attainment levels but also the school estate.
"Everyone knows Forres Academy has had fairly recent problems with the boiler system and the water ingress, so it would be nice to see parts of the learning estate being upgraded, or even Forres being provided with a new school.
"Social care is very close to my heart too. I lost my Dad last summer and I have been through the whole range of offers of social care out there for the elderly.
"To say it is not fit for purpose is probably an understatement.
"I hope that, when the national care service is rolled out, that it is fit for purpose and that it fits the local areas and not just a blanket package.
"I think, rurally, making sure that we have decent broadband and infrastructure and that things like the network of things like the Dial M for Moray bus is rolled out to some of the rural communities is very important."
