COUNCIL tax has been frozen and flower beds spared in Argyll and Bute Council’s budget plans for the next financial year – but spending cuts worth more than half a million pounds are on the way.
Proposals to reduce grass cutting in public spaces were also dropped from the authority’s spending proposals, which include a fund of more than £6.7 million to support tourism and initiatives for young people.
But schools’ entitlement for clerical support will be reviewed and reduced, despite an attempt by opposition councillors to see the proposal rejected.
The council tax freeze will keep the bill for a Band D property for the next 12 months at £1,367.73.
Budget plans voted through at a virtual meeting on Thursday include a package of 'policy savings' worth £557,500.
Additional funding announced by the council’s ruling coalition of Liberal Democrat, Conservative and independent councillors – known as the ‘Argyll, Lomond and the Islands’ (ALI) group – includes £830,000 for tourism opportunities in the area, including staycation facilities and marketing.
More than £3.1m will be spend on improving connectivity in the area, including road works and development of “active travel”, with £1.7m going towards a “recovery and renewal fund”, climate change measures and the area’s Rural Growth Deal.
A total of £600,000 will go towards the wellbeing of young people, while free off-street festive parking will return in the 2021 festive season as a result of £20,000 of funding.
Gaelic, welfare rights and initiatives to tackle digital exclusion also figure in the extra funding.
A proposal to stop all council maintenance of flower beds, with beds to be grassed over unless community groups came forward to offer to look after them, would have saved the council £30,000 – but the idea was rejected.
So, too, was the idea of reducing the scale of grass cutting on council-owned sports pitches and open spaces.
READ MORE: Flower beds 'at risk if communities don't offer help', Argyll and Bute report warns
That would have saved the authority £100,000, but after a report warned that such a move could end up risking a breach of health and safety, councillors on both the ruling administration and the opposition SNP group decided not to go ahead with the idea.
An initial proposal to cut the number of classroom support assistants around the area was removed from consideration in January after a public outcry.
In the end, 19 councillors sided with the ruling administration’s spending plans, while 13 voted for the amended proposal put forward by the SNP opposition group.
The Argyll and Bute First group, consisting of three independent councillors, did not submit a budget proposal of their own.
Council leader Robin Currie said: “When this council set its budget last year, we thought we knew a little about what lay ahead on the horizon.
“Just a few weeks later we realised the tremendous scale of the challenge we were right in the middle of, and had to respond very quickly.
READ MORE: Grass-cutting savings bid 'could risk health and safety breach', councillors told
“We have made so much progress since then, with so many changes to deliver and challenges to overcome. This year’s budget is a budget like no other.
“Argyll and Bute is historically the cradle of the nation – that is the meaning of the name Argyll. I believe that still rings true today and well into the future.
“That is why we set out these investments for those who live here today and who we will welcome in the future. We can help deliver the future that Argyll and Bute deserves.”
SNP group leader Sandy Taylor said: “This has been a very difficult year for all of us and we have looked at ways we can revitalise the damage done to Argyll and Bute.
“We had to stop almost everything we did and had little time to take stock of what we could do and monitor on a daily basis.
READ MORE: Pupil support assistants to be spared axe after idea sparks huge opposition
“We had to await guidance and advice from others but the council rose to the challenge – our workforce, members and people of Argyll and Bute.
“This is a balanced and competent budget which allows us to develop resilience in our communities post-Covid, and to support families and young people.”
The SNP amendment was backed by independent councillors Jean Moffat and Douglas Philand, who are not part of the ruling administration.
Councillor Philand’s two Argyll and Bute First colleagues, George Freeman and Donald Kelly, were not in attendance for the vote.
The ruling coalition’s plans were backed, as expected, by all 18 members of the ALI group, as well as by independent councillor Jim Anderson.
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