Election17: Retaining Schools – Sean Morton (Fochabers/Lhanbryde)

All individual candidates or political groups contesting the forthcoming local council elections in Moray are invited to state their case through the pages of our community news site – contact for submissions is editor@insidemoray.news. Here we have views of Sean Morton, Independent candidate for Fochabers/Lhanbryde.

FOCHABERS LHANBRYDE CANDIDATE Sean Morton is demanding that the first term of business for the new council be a renewal of the moratorium on secondary school closures in Moray that he secured as a Councillor in 2014.

Mr Morton said that if he was re-elected in May he would insist that “on day one the new council must renew the ban on school closures so that parents and teachers can focus on what matters: ensuring we provide the best possible education in Moray. No school closures in Moray under the new council.”

Announcing the first policy from his own manifesto on Social Media, Mr Morton said that he was “proud” of the what the local community achieved in 2014. His proposal, seconded by fellow Fochabers Lhanbryde councillor Douglas Ross, ensured a well-deserved victory for the Save Milne’s High campaign and meant that Moray Council would ban the closure of secondary schools during his first term.

Now the Mr Morton, who went to school locally at Milne’s Primary and Milne’s High, is determined to be “a champion and campaigner” for this policy if elected to a second term.

He said: “We cannot go through the next council term with schools being used as a political football. It is vital that the very first vote new and returning councillors cast is to renew the ban I helped secure on school closures for the full council term.

“The people of my community and all across Moray have made it very clear where we stand: no school closures.  The new council should make it clear on day one that it stands on the side of the people – not government cuts.

“One thing is certain – I will be on their side after this election just as I was when I delivered the necessary and welcome ban on school closures in the council chamber last time around.”

Other candidates for the Fochabers/Lhanbryde ward are: David Bremner (SNP), Donald Cameron (Scottish Lib Dem), Kenneth Gillespie (Independent), Peter Horton (Scottish Lib Dem), Marc Macrae (Scottish Conservative and Unionist), Shona Morrison (SNP), Ian Taylor (Independent).