ARGYLL and Bute Council has cut more than £50 million from its budget since 2010, it has been revealed, as more big budget decisions lie ahead.

Head of strategic finance Kirsty Flanagan announced the figure of £50.886 million at last Thursday’s meeting of the authority’s policy and resources committee.

A total of £36m worth of cuts has been made in the last seven years, and since 2014 alone, spending has been reduced by £24.836m.

More potential cuts are set to be discussed on Thursday, February 21, when the full council meets to discuss its budget plans for 2019/20.

The future of several services, including school lollipop crossing patrols, youth and adult learning services and the road safety unit, is under scrutiny having been proposed for reduction or removal in December.

Councillor Ellen Morton, who was one of the councillors keen to know the nine-year figure at last week’s committee meeting, said: “Obviously £51 million is a massive budget hit to take in nine years.

“But the public may also not be totally aware that while budgets are being cut in a way we have never had to deal with before, the level of service we are being expected to deliver is expanding.

“Adult care, particularly for the elderly, is not a Scottish Government decision as such. More people are living longer, which is great, but they are needing healthcare and social work and some of it is down to the Scottish Government.

“Pre-five education also involves an enormous amount of money in terms of paying staff and use of capital money. We have to adapt buildings that are not suitable for pre-five education.

“At the same time while the budget is getting scythed, more and more is getting added to what we are obliged to do, with less and less for the things we choose to do and our communities want us to do.

“Grass-cutting takes a proportionate hit, [and] things like fly-tipping enforcement take a hit. ”

Councillor Morton, who served as depute leader in the previous council administration until the 2017 local authority election. said she expected many difficult decisions to be taken at the council’s budget meeting on Thursday.

But she added: “We are working our way through it and I am very confident the administration will deliver the best budget it can in the circumstances.

“It is important for people to understand the pressures we are under. Every council in Scotland is under the same pressure and some are in a much more parlous position than we are.

“We made very cautious budget decisions over the last few years to gather reserves which we used last year on the roads budget.

“At a time when others are cutting back on roads we had money saved for a rainy day.”