A FORMER Argyll and Bute councillor has blasted the local authority’s design of its visitor levy consultation survey as shameful and corrupt.
Michael Breslin, who was a Dunoon ward councillor from 2012 to 2017, contacted the council’s chief executive, Pippa Milne, by email this week to express his anger over the online visitor levy consultation launched by Argyll and Bute Council.
The consultation, which opened this month, is seeking views on whether the council should introduce a visitor levy across Argyll and Bute which could see visitors to the region charged a 5 per room, per night levy.
Mr Breslin claims that the very structure of the survey the council has published makes it impossible for respondents to register outright opposition to the proposed levy, until the final question.
He believes respondents are first required to answer a series of questions about how a visitor levy would operate before being asked whether they support the principle of introducing one.
In his email to the council’s chief executive he wrote: “The consultation survey that went live yesterday is shameful. It is structured in such a way that it is impossible to say there is no support at all for a levy. All questions need to be completed in full before the final one.
“So, if someone makes it clear in that last question that they don’t support the levy, answers to the preceding questions can easily be interpreted as support. And that looks deliberate.
“It is manipulative, distorted and disgraceful. In short, it’s cheating and it’s corrupt.”
He then urged that the entire survey be pulled and the responses received so far binned.
Responding on behalf of the council, executive director Kirsty Flanagan defended the consultation process and rejected the allegations.
She explained that councillors had approved the 12-week consultation at a meeting on June 24 and that officers had only made minor amendments to clarify that respondents were commenting on a draft proposal and that the suggested 5 levy remained under consultation.
Addressing the placement of the question asking whether respondents support a visitor levy, Ms Flanagan said it had been agreed by the council’s Shadow Visitor Levy Forum that the question should appear at the end of the survey.
She said this was to allow the council to gather feedback on how any potential scheme might be designed.
Ms Flanagan also rejected Mr Breslin’s claim that respondents were unable to express opposition to the proposal throughout the consultation.
She said: “There is an open text box at the end of every question where someone can make it clear that they don’t support a visitor levy.
“All responses received by the closing date will be assessed in a fair and even-handed manner and reported back to members who will take the final decision as to whether a Visitor Levy should proceed.”
She also criticised Mr Breslin’s language, describing terms including “manipulative”, “distorted”, “disgraceful”, “cheating” and “corrupt” as offensive and untrue.
The council has stressed that no decision has been made on whether to introduce a visitor levy and says the consultation is intended to help inform councillors before any final decision is taken.
The public consultation remains open for 12 weeks.
