Grantown ‘Square Go’ victory complete after Sheriff’s expenses decision

Grantown is celebrating the formal legal withdrawal of the Highland Council’s plan to charge the public for use of the market square in the town.

At Inverness yesterday the Sheriff Court discharged the case in favour of the Grantown Community Council.

The move follows the withdrawal of the local authority's petition reported by the Strathy last week.

Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald said it had been ‘a difficult, complex and novel case’.

Delighted watchdog chairman Ewan McGregor confirmed: “Public events in The Square are now able to go ahead without the imposition of compulsory charges on the Grantown Common Good land.”

He told the Strathy: “I want to congratulate the community in supporting our case and to our legal team for all their support, advice and encouragement.

“Now it’s the question of costs which needs to be resolved.”

Legal advisor Duncan Swarbrick told the Strathy: “After the case was formally dismissed there was a hearing on expenses.

“Sheriff MacDonald found the Highland Council liable to pay expenses to the community council.

“I am delighted that the people of Grantown and the surrounding area will continue to enjoy the freedom to use the square without mandatory charges as they always have done.

“I respect the bravery of the community council in defending this case. They were going up against a much better funded and resourced opponent, who have an in house legal team, dedicated common good officers, and experience in this area of law.

“It is a David and Goliath moment!”

Local councillors agreed at a special meeting of the area committee last Tuesday (May 27) to drop their bid for charging stall holders and other users of The Square.

Council convener and local member Bill Lobban said then: “After much consideration, we have decided that it is in the best interests of the local community to withdraw and revert to the previous voluntary donation scheme.”

The councillors had initially proceeded with their plan after a low response to a local consultation exercise.

The response to the formal application involving the Common Good land, however, was markedly different with a significant number of local people opting to make their feelings known against the move.

The voluntary donation scheme is already under way in The Square.

Explainer:

Expenses which a court awards are not the same as costs. It is very rare that an award of expenses provides full recovery of costs.

In the vast majority of cases there is a shortfall between what a successful party pays in their legal fees and what they can recover if they get an award of expenses against their opponent. The recoverable costs are designed to be restricted.

Historically, this was so as to encourage parties to resolve cases without a case going all the way through days of evidence and procedure.

An account of expenses will have to be prepared by a Law Accountant, in terms of a table of fees which are issued and updated by the courts.

The accounts are often then negotiated between the parties or their lawyers or law accountants.

If agreement is not reached then the account is taxed (assessed) by the Auditor of Court. It will take at least a few weeks to get this completed, but longer if a taxation is required.

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