Reply to Ombudsman re final decision

I received your final response to our complaints re the conduct of the Scottish Government and North Ayrshire Council in regards to Largs BID ( co-incidently ? on 30th August, the same day that the invoices demanding payment of the BID levy arrived in businesses throughout Largs)
I have therefore been busy organising our appeals against the" improperly charged levy" with the N.A.C.

Decision on complaints against the Scottish Government

Firstly, we are not lawyers au fait with the handling of the legalities of appeals. You say I should have raised Derek Mackay`s failure to respond to my e-mail of 11th November 2012, but we only found out his involvement with BID after the initial appeal to  (the vaguely termed) Scottish Ministers after we submitted our initial appeal on 29th November. The fact is that Kenneth Gibson MSP, after consulting with Derek MacKay, informed me on 19th December that he "was adjudicating, and that the BID ballot was unlikely to be overturned"!  All subsequent appeal letters from Largs businesses carried a foot-note protesting the conflict of interest that the Minister in charge of promoting BID was adjudicating on our appeal.
Next, I consulted Kenneth Gibson MSP on 15th December 2012 because the next stage of the appeal requiring individuals to state which regulation had been contravened was confusing. A copy of Regulations 11 (1) and (2) had been included, but NOT Regulation11(3) which required complainants to "specify the reasons".
IT IS ABSURD for you to have expected us to read the full Regulations in order to be aware of the requirements.
It is obvious to us that it was deliberately misleading, and, yes, it did put us at a disadvantage.
Also, as Mr Gibson told me to get the next appeal letters in before close of Parliament for the Festive Season, a matter of days, I was unable to get follow up appeals from all the initial 35 complainants of 29th November. This allowed Derek MacKay to fudge the figures, discount all but 14 deprived of a ballot paper in the BID ballot, and finally on Good Friday we received a denial of our appeal on the grounds that this 14 would not have affected the "yes" ballot result !

Decision on complaint against North Ayrshire Council

Next you state that" it was open for businesses to take up their right of appeal" and" raise a complaint if they felt that they should have had a right to vote but did not receive ballot papers" whether the Council`s list had been produced or not".
HOW PATENTLY ABSURD when I was the bearer of bad tidings to so many of the 82 I found before the deadline of 17th May for our submissions to your Office.
They did not know they had been left out of the BID ballot.
Also, your SPSO literature clearly states that you will only consider complaints after the full appeal process has been completed. So, as I repeatedly stated, THEY WERE NOT ONLY DEPRIVED OF BALLOT PAPERS, BUT ALSO THEIR RIGHT OF APPEAL.

Shame on you for upholding this abuse of democracy.

Publicity Needed

I have been speaking with business owners in the Living Lochaber area, which is HUGE taking in Fort William etc approx 2500 eligible businesses. Guess what ? They estimate that 1200 know nothing about
 BID !  Also they cannot get access to the list of eligible businesses, just like Largs.
At least they are finding out the truth BEFORE THE BALLOT.
I am very angry with the FSB, as I had the interest of a tv journalist, but when he contacted the press office of the FSB, he was told that most BID areas were successful, and undermined our legitimate demand for a re-ballot, giving the impression we were anti-BID protesters who had received the info and ballot papers but had not voted ! Anyway BID had been established in Largs, so, as a result he considers our case historic !
I have raised a complaint with the FSB, and I will apprise my daughter when she returns from her business trip tomorrow. Somehow, I doubt if she will be renewing her FSB subscription. Those of you deprived of a vote in Largs BID should take this up with the FSB if you are members.
The fight goes on.    

Battle against BID intensifies

Do you believe in coincidence ? On the same day, Friday 30th August, that the invoices for the BID levy drop through the doors of businesses in Largs (except ours, which went to my daughter`s home address), we also received a further dismissal of our appeal from the Ombudsman`s Office.
DISGRACEFUL !
However, this is not the end. We will not give up. Justice is worth the struggle. Since our elected representatives will do nothing to redress this injustice perpetrated on the business owners of Largs, we are pursuing a different method to get this ballot over-turned.
Meantime, those who did not receive a ballot paper MUST appeal - see the back of the invoice for details of appeal within 28 days. I shall be sending a letter of appeal to the Chief Finance Officer at North Ayrshire Council, and I will make copies available to those who require them.
Did anyone read the Oban Times 29th August ? Unlike our `wee` paper which none of us will buy or place adverts with due to Drew Cochrane`s decision not to print anything detrimental to BID. I am told e-mails to the Largs and Millport News were deleted and letters not printed if they opposed BID. When our protest started we were denigrated and ridiculed in `his` paper. Even our ten month battle for a re-ballot has been ignored.. How lucky are those who get the Oban Times which gives coverage to both sides.
Currently the battle is on for Living Lochaber !  The Oban Times has printed all the complaints which show that what happened here in Largs is a pattern, a BID process to gain a `yes ` result.
Of  course I will contact them, so that they can be warned in time to demand a ballot paper.
I went to see Katy Clark,MP on Friday to update her on the disgraceful inaction of MSP`s and the Ombudsman, and to inform her of the anger that BID bills had arrived that day. She now realises this is not just a local problem, and is happening in England too, which must be addressed by Westminster.
Keep checking the blog as more to come shortly.

Meeting with FSB

I refused to accept the decision from the allocated officer at the Office of the Ombudsman, as I believed that it did not address the relevant issues re Largs BID. I am still awaiting the outcome of the subsequent review by the Ombudsman. To date I have only received an apology, on 17th August, for the delay.
Meantime we are meeting next week with representatives of the Federation of Small Businesses, FSB, in response to our complaints of lack of action re the scourge of BID.
WE WILL NOT GIVE UP.
In a supposedly democratic country, we will not accept a `rigged` ballot with 82 known to have been deprived of a ballot paper in order to declare a "yes" result for BID.
I did not expect to be still calling for a re-ballot TEN MONTHS  after the event.
WE WILL NOT GIVE UP.

Largs traders denied their democratic rights

After a 5 month battle to get the list of eligible businesses involved in Largs BID,  on receipt of the list I   managed to identify 82 of us  who did not receive a ballot paper . No doubt there are more but I had to meet the deadline from the Ombudsman of 17th May, so I supplied this data as an important part of our appeal for justice.  ALL TO NO AVAIL !  The Ombudsman will take no action.
Just what will it take to overturn this `rigged` "yes" ballot result ?
I have contacted the Federation of Small Business and demanded help. They must have numerous members throughout Scotland who have had BID foisted on them by the combined forces of a self-appointed BID committee, local council, and the Scottish Government.. This quango, the misnamed Business Improvement District, is draining money from small business and thereby damaging the profitability of small business.
I shall also be taking legal advice as to our next step in this battle.
Despite proving that, contrary to Derek MacKay`s assertion that there were too few to have affected the Largs BID result, had 82 of us not been prevented from voting, the result would have been "NO".
This government chooses to ignore this and refuse us our democratic right to a fair and free vote. We will not accept this travesty and the fight for justice continues.

Current figure to date

To date the current figure for those businesses deprived of a vote in Largs BID is 79 !!

Saw STV news last night. Item on Falkirk and the number of businesses struggling or " going to the wall". 

No surprise, since BID took over 3 years ago. The imposition of an enforceable levy for the next 5 years no doubt has contributed to the decline. The Town Centre Manager, Alastair Mitchell ( a BID "spin doctor") was claiming to have ideas to improve the situation. But, all we have seen in previous BID areas are empty promises and spin, followed by deterioration. The only people who benefit from BID appear to be those who are part of the BID quango, whilst small businesses are forced to pay the unwanted burden of the levy, enforced by councils.

Hardly conducive to creating a thriving business community !!

When are the media going to wake up and expose the reality of BID ? So far our elected representatives prefer to ignore the results of inflicting such an undemocratic process on the small business communities of Scotland.,.

Numbers excluded from Largs BID increasing daily

I am contacting businesses on the" list" each day, and now have over 60 of us excluded from the Largs BID ballot !  Still so many to confirm.
I spoke to the office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman yesterday, and the case is only being pursued in the name of my daughter`s business. To reflect the number involved, I have been advised that I require to get a signed mandate from the others involved in the appeal process, so that I can continue to speak on their behalf as well. Only those who completed the appeal process, so, yet again those I am now finding are denied the right of appeal. Never the less, I intend to show that this ballot was, as I suspected, `rigged` to provide a "yes" result by depriving a SIGNIFICANT number of the right to a ballot paper.
The reason given by Derek MacKay MSP for his denial of the appeal was that  even if those who appealed had got a vote it would not have changed the outcome of the ballot.
Well, we can now prove that numbers already show that if North Ayrshire Council had conducted a proper ballot, the result would have been different. Also, by refusing us "the list" in November, Elma Murray the Returning Officer prevented those excluded from joining in the appeal process.
What has happened to DEMOCRACY in Scotland ?
Will we allow this ?  No chance !!  Scottish Government, take heed  ! We will continue till we win this battle.