Huge cutbacks to council services in Argyll and Bute have been attacked as ‘faits accomplis’ by union leaders.
The council’s joint trades unions have issued a statement attacking austerity and saying wealth in Argyll and Bute should be diverted to fund the council, saying the Council Tax freeze is ‘unsustainable’.
They have accused council departments of ‘a bunker mentality’ and called for a new timetable to be introduced, saying the February deadline for the first round of savings is too soon – for full details of the proposed cuts click here.
“The decision to bring forward cuts proposals of £3.79m in excess of those the council states it requires is creating huge additional uncertainty and stress in the workforce and communities,” said the statement issued by UNISON, UNITE, GMB, EIS and UCATT.
“There is also cynicism about the putting up of so many cuts options at this stage and the ultimate withdrawal of many options is a crude attempt to mask the real cuts.”
The implication is that some of the more emotive targets for closure and cutbacks have been as diversions only, so that the final list seems less unpalatable.
The union statement adds: “If the level of jobs envisaged being lost from the council was to be happening in any other sector the council would rightly we assume be calling on the Scottish and Westminster governments to join in a taskforce to help those affected.
“Our members live and work in Argyll and Bute; they will struggle to find alternative employment and will need every support to do so.”
The unions were included in the ‘Service Choices’ process but say their hands were tied by confidentiality, and the statement ends by warning that vulnerable people will be particularly affected by the cuts, leaving the council open to negative publicity and possible legal challenges.
We are told that the Scottish government has underspent by £350 million and this government is against austerity would have thought the solution was obvious
Bin the rest of CHORD until the budget restraint ends; problem solved. Next question; why do we have a council chamber full of diddies?
Absolutely. Underspend of £350 million – that’s great – too much in the coffers in the first place is what that says to me. Let’s work at efficiency, not throwing more money at it.
No need to cut education for children, look at other options
1. Bin Chord – what an absolute waste – Helensburgh Colquhoun Square now like a showcase for outdoor furniture that’s never really utilised. It hosts a monthly outdoor fair that actually hurts local business as it doesn’t encourage shoppers out the square.bins that are ridiculous. If money needed spending in Helensburgh to boost it’s economy, it should have been spent developing the seafront from the Pier to Kidston park – this is what would bring tourists back, not a town square!
2. Stop spending on Gaelic road signs.
3 Get the council working efficiently from the top down – no overtime and efficient, enthusiastic workers. Get rid of the low achievers
4. Why do we need so many councillors – cut the number by half at least!
5. Has anybody heard how the schools are funded by A&BC? If not, you should check it out, it’s a total farce!
6. Fix roads properly, don’t half do a job needing further remedial works very soon thereafter, a false economy surely.
7. Remind me how Chord was funded – OUCH!
8. Our council has a lot to answer for – I’ll stop there
Argyll and Bute council are a joke at best, the sad thing is, this isn’t funny at all, it’s deadly serious. As far as I’m concerned, I pay far too much council tax for what I get – I will be starting to do something about it if it increases and services decline. Efficiency is the answer – not service cuts!
I should say, I’m no right wing person, I’m actually for the SNP – if it matters any!
I see the SNP’s MP & MSP have jumped on the bandwagon of attacking the cuts – a shame their own Councillors fell apart and couldn’t run the council. Or did they get out deliberately so that others had to take the flak they knew was coming?
From my point of view, I’m not particularly attacking cuts here. I’m not standing up for SNP either. I’m attacking the overweight and inefficient structure of our council which has helped bring us to this point – the point where we need cuts. My own feeling is that councils should be independent of any political affiliation. Whoever made the mess is irrelevant as none of them have been particularly effective or efficient. It’s been a declining shambles since way before the SNP rose to the dizzying heights they currently enjoy. I know quite a few people employed by the council who shall remain completely anonymous, but quite a few of them don’t feel they work particularly hard.
Gone are the days of annual council tax rises – great. No longer can us poor council tax paying subjects be treated as cash cows to fund the overweight and inefficient ways of our council.They now have to sort it out and at long last – well they should.
If education suffers at the because of an overweight and inefficient council who seem unable to grasp the basics of proper budgeting, efficiency and accountability, I fear there could well be some kind of a rebellion, and not before time! Something needs to change drastically and I hope this is the catalyst.
The only councillor who seems interested in something other than the status quo minus a few salami slices is Michael Breslin, but he’s about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit at Kilmory. He’s put up some interesting ideas on his blog but no doubt nothing will come of it.
As someone who belongs to no political party (because I’m a non-UK citizen resident in A&B for 30+ years), this is not the time for sniping at one another because of political affiliations – this is really serious. Wealthy people who don’t need state pensions, don’t have chlidren in state schools, who belong to private clubs for keeping fit/swimming/etc. wake up – yes even wealthy people need roads, and bin collection and may escape mowing down small children at crossings on foggy mornings and afternoons, because there’s lollipop people watching out for their charges. The more you cut education, school libraries, school meals, etc., the more likely you will be needing to increase the police force, as the lack of education is a driver for petty crime. So no ££ savings there.
We all must take the council to task about their cuts, and their upper-management council salaries – and there must be a re-arrangement of council tax fees – why should someone living in a house worth £115,000 pay £2660 per annum, while someone living in a house worth £1 million pay £3200? (And this number starts at houses worth £212,000 – why should someone living in a house worth £212,000 have to pay the same as the £1 million house?) And all these based on valuations from 1991!!?? The myth of the little old lady living in her £1 million home who can’t pay her taxes is reasonably countered by the fact that the council will take into consideration annual earnings and adjust council tax fees on an individual basis, but the rates must change – they are totally unrealistic.
Agree
The council tax freeze is daft and has now got to the stage where no-one dares change it, while both Tory and SNP govs see councils as a soft target as it’s hard to attribute blame for their cuts. The unions here seem to say that some of the worst options aren’t serious, just tactics so the real bad news seems tempered and that seems likely – but even so, it’s very, very bad.
Have a look at the document (link in the other story) and look for the cuts in central admin, HR, chief exec dept…. And the PR team could actually get bigger!