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