Argyll and Bute Council will have to revisit its process for conducting public consultations, its own leader has said.
The authority is currently conducting a consultation on proposed cuts to its amenity services as part of its budget-setting process for 2021/22.
The only options available to respondents on some of the services are whether they should be reduced further or delivered differently.
Others have a choice of whether the resident feels the council should stop or reduce the service, or continue them with community involvement. ‘Don’t know’ is also an option in both sets of questions.
Cllr Robin Currie told the council’s policy and resources committee today that the process would have to be reviewed.
An initial question was raised by Cllr Rory Colville, asking about how big a role consultations would have in the overall budget-setting process.
He asked: “I got an alert through my laptop, as I am sure many others did, asking the public to identify savings on amenity services.
“If roads and amenity services are going to be doing that, are we not going out to ask about education, or are these two different things?”
Executive director Douglas Hendry replied: “The services are quite different. It is not the case that education is totally ring-fenced, but somewhere around 80% of the total budget is on schools, teachers and other staff who work in schools.
“There is also a presumption against the closure of schools, so the position for education is that there is a big chunk of our spend that can’t really be got at in terms of savings.”
Cllr Colville then said: “I am not trying to be a troublemaker but I am concerned that the questionnaire is put out by amenity services.
“Is this a result of them trying to reach a savings target, or part of a wider budget consultation which I am not aware of?”
Mr Hendry answered: “My understanding is that the questionnaire has gone out in relation to one of the themed savings.
“They had confirmed their intention to put out a questionnaire specifically in relation to amenity services, so it is not part of a general budget consultation exercise.
“It relates to amenity services, but will be part of a wider piece of work that may well feature in the final budget report in February.”
Cllr Currie, who took over as leader last month, then said: “I am trying to be very diplomatic, but I will need to address this through other avenues because having experienced sitting through a two-hour session with a group last night regarding this consultation was hard going.
“People were not able to put on this survey just what they were thinking, so we will have to look at these surveys again. I know other members have commented on the same thing.”
His deputy, Gary Mulvaney, said: “I have had one email back from a constituent about the consultation. These things are difficult and even more so this year because of all the other things going on.
“Ordinarily this type of consultation in terms of the overall budget process would have been done much earlier than where we are now.
“The constituent asked why the consultation was all being done digitally as opposed to a hard copy, and during the school holidays, but we are in a much more compressed timetable because of Covid-19.
“We have staff working from home and none of it is ideal, so the consultation is what it is and officers have done their best in the circumstances.
“We also have the fact that when we speak to people they say ‘That’s why we elected you, so don’t keep coming back and consulting, get on with it’
“We just need to be a bit coy around where we have ended up.”
The consultation by amenity services is available through the council website at argyll-bute.gov.uk until Sunday, October 18.
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