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2012-2015 budget: the Argyll First evaluation

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Argyll  First is of the opinion that this was an electioneering budget by the most unpopular administration ever to hold office in Argyll & Bute Council.

The Leader of the Council had received numerous requests from Councillor Philand prior to ‘budget day’  asking for a copy of the final budget proposals.   Unfortunately this request was denied.

Ironically, at 10.15am it was brought to our attention that the Leader of the Council, accompanied by the Deputy Leader and Councillor Mulvaney, were pictured in the Helensburgh Advertiser highlighting some of the confirmed budget proposals. This is totally unacceptable.

At  11.00am we attended the Council Chamber where we sat for approximately 2 hours listening to the Leader and the Administration  delivering three protracted repetitive speeches.

Having been previously denied prior knowledge of the final content, we requested an adjournment to allow us time to fully consider the final budget proposals. However this request was denied.

The only way we could obtain an adjournment was to support an amendment put forward by Councillor George Freeman and seconded by Councillor Robert McIntyre.  The Provost thereafter agreed to an adjournment.

The main emphasis on the key points of the budget was in effect to borrow more money to support additional investment in roads and education.

All things considered, the budget that Councillor Walsh put forward was probably as good as we could expect  at this time.

However, during the course of the debate, some members of  the administration, in our opinion, tried every trick in the book  to wind  the opposition up in an attempt to get us to vote against the budget (for political purposes).

We were perceptive enough to see through this ploy.

We are determined to change the way in which the budget is presented to the council (the current cloak and dagger method has to go!).

Councillor Walsh was, in our opinion, astute enough to make most of the hard hitting cuts last year, thereby enabling him to put forward a more attractive pre-election budget .

We maintain that the budget process should be open and transparent and that all proposals (good or bad) should be put on the table for all councillors to scrutinise for an appropriate period of time before budget day.

This will be one of many proposals we intend to put forward to the new administration after May’s elections  in an ongoing attempt to create true democracy within Argyll & Bute Council.

Argyll First 19th February 2012

2012-2015 budget: Argyll and Bute Independent Councillors evaluation

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Along with other opposition group leaders, I met with Councillor Dick Walsh and Councillor Ellen Morton on the Monday before the Council budget meeting to discuss their budget proposals.  When they were asked if they would provide us with details of the budget that the ConDemAll administration was proposing in an attempt to try and produce a budget that all councillors could support, they refused.

During that meeting a number of issues were raised.  I asked if funding was being allocated to the proposed new swimming pool and leisure facility in Helensburgh.  Although they would not say, I was asked if I would cut funding from social work service, roads or education to pay for it.

I have been banging the table for some time now on this issue and had already told local administration members that it was totally unacceptable that they was not allocating funding from the Capital Programme to pay for this facility.

Although I am glad that they have listened to me, I am concerned that they have only allocated £7.5 million net for a project that requires over £10 million.  It appears that they are only going to give us a second rate facility or they are still forcing us to sell local assets to bridge the funding gap.  It is unfortunate that they are not being open by telling us what the total cost will be and where the remainder of the money is coming from.

Although I made it clear that I welcomed many of the proposals within the administration’s budget, I am seriously concerned that they are now robbing the NPDO Schools and Waste PPP smoothing fund of £12.5 million to pay for many of their proposals.  This will mean that the revenue fund will now have to pay substantial costs to these funds for years to come.  Unfortunately, this will equate to the potential loss of 130/140 jobs – as was confirmed by the Head of Strategic Finance.

It appears that this will be similar to the CHORD Project where the Council will have to pay £50 million over the next 25 years to fund this project with the Council Tax payer in the Helensburgh & Lomond Area having to subsidise other CHORD Projects in Rothesay, Dunoon and other Argyll & Bute towns.  Again, it appears that Helensburgh & Lomond is being seen as the cash cow for the rest of Argyll & Bute.

Although everyone will welcome the fact that £200,000 is being allocated to a new Youth Employment Opportunities Fund for 2012/13, there are serious concerns that Waitrose appears to have been made aware of this fund a week or two before the Council was informed.  Waitrose, who are hoping to persuade the Council to approve their major supermarket planning application this month, offered the Council £20,000 for youth unemployment a week before the Council was made aware of this fund.

It is clear that, with both eyes on the upcoming local authority elections in May, the ConDemAll administration put lots of goodies in their budget in the hope that the electorate will forget the disastrous school closure proposals and the way the administration handled the Supporting People funding over the past year.

It is also clear that funding was allocated to some of the administration councillor’s pet projects so as to ensure that they supported the budget proposals.

Although the opposition asked for an adjournment so that the budget proposals could be scrutinised, this was refused by the Convener, Councillor Billy Petrie, who said that he would only allow an adjournment if an amendment was placed on the table first.  This was a clear change to the normal practice and was clearly decided so as to ensure that opposition councillors did not get the opportunity to scrutinise the ConDemAll administration’s budget proposals.

While I welcomed a number of the proposals within the administration’s budget, I also highlighted that I had concerns over some of the proposals such as the level of funding for roads, funding for various social work support services for the most vulnerable within our society and the limited funding for the proposed Helensburgh Swimming Pool and Leisure Facility.

As a result of these concerns, and the fact that the Council does not have to agree a budget for another four weeks, I tabled an amendment to the administration’s budget proposals asking that the Council continue consideration of the budget to another date so that the councillors could try and bring a budget forward that all councillors could support.

George Freeman, Argyll and Bute Independent Councillors