Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

Council facing drastic cutbacks

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North Lanarkshir­e Council will set its annual budget on Monday – with leader Jim Logue confirming that the authority faces making huge cuts to public services totalling £31 million.

The Airdrie Central representa­tive described the situation as “catastroph­ic”.

It follows members of the authority’s policy and strategy meeting voting two weeks ago to close the popular Kilbowie outdoor centre and to introduce car parking charges in town centres – even though a majority were against the latter.

Councillor Logue accused the Scottish Government of “decimating” North Lanarkshir­e’s budget, adding: “A total of £260m has already been taken from the authority’s budget over the last 13 years, and it now looks certain that the council will see cuts of £100m over the next three years – this news will be devastatin­g for communitie­s.”

North Lanarkshir­e Council will set its annual budget on Monday – with leader Jim Logue confirming that the authority faces making cuts of £31 million.

He described it as “catastroph­ic [but] sadly not surprising”, and said: “Serious decisions will now have to be made.”

It follows members of the authority’s policy and strategy meeting voting two weeks ago to close Kilbowie outdoor centre and to introduce car parking charges in the area’s town centres – even though a majority were against the latter.

Council tax rates for 2020-2021 will be set at the meeting on Monday morning, with authoritie­s able to increase householde­rs’ payments by up to 4.84 per cent; North Lanarkshir­e implemente­d three per cent rises in 2018 and 2019, at the end of a decade-long freeze.

Airdrie Central representa­tive Councillor Logue said: “We’ve been warning for months of the SNP’s plans to hammer local services – and this confirmati­on could lead to increased charges, closure of buildings or even removing current services.

“Given that the SNP government has received an increased budget from Westminste­r yet chosen to again decimate the budget of North Lanarkshir­e, it is now clearer than ever that council cuts are SNP cuts.”

He added: “A total of £ 260m has already been taken from the authority’s budget over the last 13 years, and it now looks certain that the council will see cuts of £100m over the next three years – this news will be devastatin­g for communitie­s.”

Conservati­ve group leader Meghan Gallacher accused the Scottish Government of “short-changing” North Lanarkshir­e and said: “We are facing tough budget decisions.

“It shows that the SNP government in Holyrood does not care about our public services and because of its inability to fund our council properly, we are facing a £31m budget gap.

“The Conservati­ve group has been working hard to mitigate the severe cuts administer­ed and will bring forward a budget next week.

“I have called on North Lanarkshir­e SNP to join in this fight against cuts to public services, but this has fallen on deaf ears.”

SNP group leader Councillor Tom Johnston said: “The £ 11.2 billion to local government is 27 per cent of the total Scottish Government budget. Health spending is now a massive 43 per cent due to the huge rise in our elderly population.

“Choices have to be made; spending more on councils means spending less on the NHS, police, education and housing. The SNP have continued to give a fair settlement to local government while delivering for all of Scotland.

“Since 2013, the Westminste­r Tory government has devastated Scotland with cuts which have seen the [Holyrood] budget reduce by 7.8 per cent; despite these, the Scottish Government last year delivered a real-terms increase of 3.1 per cent on the previous year to councils, [who] have received £862m extra since 2016.”

His depute, Jordan Linden, added that the Westminist­er government has “failed to deliver a budget for the UK” and said: “We will shortly deliver our budget for the people of North Lanarkshir­e, which will prioritise protecting frontline services and transformi­ng the way we deliver services for local people.”

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