LOCH Lomond and The Trossachs National Park has been branded an “embarrassment to Scotland” after one of its leading members was forced to resign from the park board for failing to declare shares in a £200 million gold mining company.
Owen McKee, who bought shares in the Australian company Scotgold for £12,000 after it was given permission to dig for gold at Cononish near Tyndrum in the park, has triggered a by-election next month by standing down as an elected member of the board.
He had previously sold his shares and resigned as vice-convener and chair of the planning committee, but remained a member of both the board and the committee.
Our sister paper the Sunday Herald revealed last month that McKee breached the park’s code of conduct by failing to declare his shareholding at 15 meetings over more than two years. It has emerged that days after the story appeared, he wrote a letter resigning from the park board “in the light of recent media coverage”.
Dave Morris, the former director of Ramblers Scotland, described McKee’s resignation as “inevitable” after his mistakes were exposed. “It is unlikely to be the last resignation as the board’s reputation continues to spiral downwards,” he claimed. “Our national parks were supposed to demonstrate best practice, but instead in Loch Lomond we have never-ending lessons in leadership failure. It is an embarrassment to Scotland.”
McKee accepted that he had made a “serious misjudgement”, adding: “I am most distressed that my own personal error of judgement has attracted completely undeserved criticism of the national park authority.”
His resignation was accepted by the park convener, Linda McKay. Failing to declare the Scotgold shares “was a serious breach of our code of conduct,” she said.
She told him: “I was glad that you recognised this, at the time, by stepping down from your board positions and selling your shares despite facing financial losses as a result. In the light of the media attention your actions have attracted, I understand why you now feel the need to take the further step of resigning from the board.”
The mountaineering campaigner Nick Kempe has lodged two complaints to Bill Thomson, the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. “The government needs to sort out the governance of this national park where the personal interests of board members comes before the public interest,” he said.
The park authority blamed the “barrage of criticism” on personal objections to a proposed camping ban, which was now going ahead after comprehensive consultations.
“It is worth remembering that Owen McKee was one individual on a board of 17 and he has acknowledged his error of judgement by resigning,” said a park spokeswoman.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here