Ross-shire councillor Maxine Smith in shock resignation from Highland Council

A VETERAN Ross-shire councillor has resigned from Highland Council with immediate effect citing “serious hate incidents” and social media trolling as amongst her reasons.

Maxine Smith has represented the Cromarty Firth area of Easter Ross as a Highland Councillor for 18 years and was a community volunteer for many years before that.

The Cromarty Firth ward has witnessed a string of resignations in recent times.

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A businesswoman in her own right, Ms Smith said that she had literally resigned this evening.

She said: “Much of a councillor’s work goes unseen as it involves the assistance we give to individuals, which is private and confidential.”

“Nevertheless I was going to stay until the end of my term in May 2027, but now due to personal reasons I feel I must stand down.

”I’m not an angel I’m just a woman and any time we make mistakes as a politician we are hung, drawn and quartered by social media. If this were a hundred years ago many of us councillors would be dead ten times over from our own voters!

”This has become a frightening world to live in and I just want to be an ordinary human being. I’m sure I’ll continue to be far less than perfect in the future but at least I will not have the weight of being a councillor on my shoulders if I made a mistake.

”Again, I thank my voters for the honour of serving them for such a long time. I know I’ve helped bring tens of millions £s into the local economy and personally helped hundreds of my constituents but it’s finally time to retire from the Highland Council.

”As well as the haters there are some wonderful, kind and compassionate constituents who I’ll never forget and some with whom I’ll retain a lasting friendship. I’ll miss many of my long-serving councillor colleagues too.”

Reflecting on the legacy that she will leave, she cited: running the Invergordon Environmental Group; providing the floral displays for the High Street from 1998 to 2021; latterly organising the funding for the Natal Garden volunteers; abolishing the so-called ‘Cinderella Curfew’ in the Inverness nightclubs when convener of the licensing board and persuading Scottish Water to spend £250,000 on renewing the sewage system on Clyde Street in Invergordon “to prevent raw sewage entering people’s homes and flooding them”.

She also worked to enable hundreds of new houses to be built in the local area and worked with colleagues to build a new academy in Alness.

Finding and encouraging the sale of the Bouchardon bust “to provide a Common Good fund of around £125,000 per annum in perpetuity for Invergordon” was amongst the achievements that made national headlines.

She also cites promoting the issues at the accident blackspot Tomich junction “which are shortly going to be addressed with the green port” as part of a lengthy legacy.

She was also involved in organising and raising funds for the Invergordon bonfire; creating a lunch club for the elderly in Invergordon Social Club after the Covid pandemic and “my favourite job - being a member of the planning committee”.

During her tenure she held many senior roles, including leader of the opposition, vice-convener, convener of the licensing board, chairman of north planning committee, budget leader and chairman of the resources committee, chairman of the tourism committee, leader of the SNP councillor group for six years and co-leader of the Highland Alliance for the past year.

Councillor Smith worked for the Easter Ross area firstly as a community volunteer then for the past 18 years as Highland Councillor.

Her initial involvement in politics and community work was her involvement in saving Newmore Primary School from closure in 1992, then again in 1997 fighting to keep it open along with another four Ross-shire primaries and one primary school in Lochaber.

She was elected as an SNP Councillor in 2007 and served for three five-year terms. Then, in 2022, she was re-elected as an independent councillor, having resigned from the Scottish National Party due to local internal divisions.

She added: “We do live in capricious and unpredictable times though where situations can change in an instant.

”I do have plans to continue my summer cruise tour business.I’m also starting a training course in Glasgow at weekends.”

In 2003 she graduated from Moray College with a Counselling Certificate and plans to add to this by studying Hypnotism and Regression Therapy and open a centre in 2026.

In an endnote, she added: “I’m not retiring from the world yet, just the council.”

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