Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Musical youths hit the right note in protest
Young musicians and their supporters made themselves heard as they protested against threatened budget cuts ahead of North Lanarkshire’s annual finance meeting on Monday.
Dozens of members of North Lanarkshire schools’ world champion pipe band played outside the council’s headquarters to show their opposition to potential cuts to the authority’s music service, which parents and pupils feared could have threatened the future of the band and other music ensembles.
Councillors chose not to implement any cuts to the pipe band among their £31million of cuts; agreeing instead to “review aspects of extra-curricular music service provision including charging”, aiming to save £245,000 in the next two years but stating: “This retains the pipe band and commitment to music provision within schools.”
More than 11,000 people had signed an online petition campaigning against any cuts, and almost 100 gathered outside the Civic Centre on Monday morning as councillors arrived.
Speaking about the Labour administration’s budget, finance convener Bob Burrows said: “We’ll continue the excellent work of the pipe band and brilliant school bands across North Lanarkshire; we firmly believe our young people shouldn’t suffer.
“Given the scale of the cuts, it will be necessary to review aspects of the service, including charging which hasn’t increased in almost a decade, but we’re determined to continue to deliver the best instrumental music service in Scotland.”
Council leader Jim Logue told the Advertiser: “The review is to see if there are other ways of sustaining the bands such as a charging regime; last time we brought it in was eight years ago so is it now time to uprate those and look at it? It’s a situation facing all councils in Scotland.”