There’s a consultation meeting in the Rosebank School
There is a school of thought that the last
time round it was all smoke and mirrors and red herrings as the meeting was
dominated by issues surrounding the potential closure of Nairn Swimming Pool.
At the end of the previous administration’s consultation process they came out
of nowhere with proposed cuts to Teaching Assistant posts. This time,
hopefully, this administration will listen to the punters a bit better than the
last ruling group did.
Alistair Noble, told the meeting that he believed the cuts amounted to 5% per year for several years. His thesis is that Nairn should not get the cuts that other areas wil get because we never got our fair share in the first place. He will be going to the meeting with his argument tonight. Understandably consultation is almost a four letter word in Nairn and we look at the way we have been treated in the past with a profound cynicism. It is a new administration however and we have Colin and Liz representing us in Nairn. For the foreseeable future the way this administration treats Nairn will have a profound effect on their political reputations and that of the party they represent. This observer, like many thousands of voters in Nairn, trusts them and hopes that the new administration doesn’t let them and Nairn down and that we are treated with more respect from now on.
Colin and Liz ? Heaven help us.
ReplyDeleteIt's never straightforward. I'm sure every town outwith Inverness feels hard done by when it comes to a fair share of the resources. All capital towns tend to get the lions portion.
ReplyDeleteThrough inflation we've had not a freeze but a cut in the monies raised by council taxes in recent years. You could argue that successive councils have done well so far to shield us from major cuts, but there's only so many ways you can cut the cloth.
I suspect that the Scottish government is going to have to inject some cash into it's declining council bank accounts. Failure to do so before 2014 will see not only cuts to services but thousands of council workers being made redundant. This scenario will hardly be a vote winner when it comes to voting on Scottish independence, and you can just see the posters now 'Scotland isn't working'
But it isn't just council workers who are effected by cuts. We might all grumble at our council tax bills but we need our services. How is for example the loss of our library, care homes, working street lights etc going to make us feel, lower taxes but not very happy
One of the attractions (for me) of an independent Scotland is that of caring about people and us not suffering the swinging cuts that will see the collapse of the NHS in England and Wales. But our council services are no less important and this has to be imparted to our government. No money, well then stop the council tax freeze. A rise wouldn't have to be substantial, a pound a week from each of us would more than help the situation. No loss of face for our government, they've cut the slack from council spending, but the freeze has to stop
Hopefully our SNP councillors will support all local services being maintained, and won't be prepared to sit back and see them disappear one by one with a shrug of the shoulders
We Scots are a caring people, but lets take that message to our Scottish government before it's too late!
The SNP will no doubt blame a lack of money from Westminster for these cuts, but it is they as the ruling party in the Scottish Parliament who have continued the Council Tax freeze.
ReplyDeleteThe freeze will not only result in a loss of services, but also many council employees becoming unemployed
This is a downward spiral for Scotland. Many of our near European neighbours have poured more money into state services with positive effect.
Loss of services hits the poorest in our communities, and through increased unemployment that will mean many people will suffer as a consequence
Our councillors may feel powerless at a local level, but surely with our support they can question these proposed cuts and help turn around a potentially disastrous policy?
What about a couple sharing a 2 bedroom house and are on benifits they are now being told that they HAVE to move into a 1 bedroom house its just a way of punishing people on benifits.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous I am not on benefits and have to live in a one bed flat because on my income thats all I can afford to do. I do not have a flat screen tv, don't smoke rarely drink and I havn't a clue what happens on Jeremy Kyle.
ReplyDelete