Social media campaigns have been launched to fight huge budget cuts which would mean hundreds of people losing their jobs in Argyll and Bute.
The council says it needs to cut spending by £18m over the next two years because of reduced funding from the Scottish Government.
But the possible targets include school crossing patrols, classroom assistants, school budgets and the mobile library, while many services would be transferred to a charitable trust.
Politicians and unions have already attacked the proposals, which could see more than 300 people made redundant, and now the public has joined the fight via social media.
The Argyll and Bute Parents Against Council Cuts Facebook page, based in Oban, already has 651 likes.
An online petition has been launched, stating: “We, the citizens of Argyll and Bute, give notice to Argyll and Bute Council that we reject these appalling, destructive and cruel plans in their entirety.”
So far the petition has 299 signatures – it can be accessed here.
And a petition backed by 405 people via change.org urges the council to reject a request for an additional two communications officers, at a cost of £76,000, which is on the same agenda as the proposals for mass redundancies.
It highlights the proposal to save £80,000 by removing the central budget for children with additional support needs, which it says ‘will have a huge detrimental effect on all our pupils’, arguing that if the communications posts are not created this service could be safeguarded.
The council’s policy and resources committee is due to discuss the proposals at a special meeting in Lochgilphead today.
The plans will then need to be approved by the full council later this month before a public consultation exercise begins.
A total of 140 services are targeted for cutbacks or complete closure, but the total that would be saved by this is more than required, so it is likely that some services will be spared – unions have attacked this as creating unnecessary additional worry for workers and ‘a crude attempt to mask the real cuts’.
The options were drawn up by a project board chaired by council leader Dick Walsh, including four opposition councilors, and acted on the assumption that John Swinney’s announcement on local government funding is expected in January, giving little time to prepare the council’s budget for the new financial year.
Bin CHORD, no-one will miss it.