Soviet- style plan should be open
Not even James Bond really knows
The local council we elected on a platform of “openness, transparency and consultation” is about to enter its annual season of such top secrecy - not even James Bond is licensed to know what the heck is going on!
Covert, clandestine, classified or confidential - you can bet on South Ayrshire Council using any one of those prefixes as it enters its yearly phase of hush- hush huddles and “members only” chit- chat.
It happens at the end of every February . . . with hundreds of thousands of words exchanged at ‘ in camera’ committee meetings and private leadership panels.
But when the Ides of March fall - there’s only one word that really matters.
And that word is - budget!
By this time next month, SAC will be duty bound to tell us where all the money went last year . . . and where it’s all going next year.
And given their track record of bumbling and bungling when it comes to finances - we should all be on stand- by for another session of the half- baked, flim flanned with the half truth.
To be fair to South Ayrshire Council - and I usually try to be! - this year’s budgeting is a little trickier than normal.
Down in London, we have a new government with one foot in the door . . . and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer running out the door! The treasury is in turmoil.
Nicola Sturgeon can’t be sure what to give out with one hand - until she knows what Boris Johnson’s central government is going to put in the other.
But the one thing we can be sure of is that SAC will be targeting anything and everything that is costing them money.
The buzz words over the last few years have been “Community Asset Transfer”..
The CAT Scheme was an SNP inspiration in 2015 and hidden under the title “Community Empowerment”.
The theory was that small groups could “buy out” council owned land or property if they could prove they could use it more economically.
But that’s where the ‘ community empowerment’ bit got lost.
Instead, some unscrupulous councils used the legislation to ‘ empower’ themselves.
And the result was several community groups being given an ultimatum - “buy out your village hall . . . or we’ll shut it down”.
South Ayrshire Council rolled out their own version of it last year.
And you can bet they’ll be back again in 2020 with more “assets” they want to “transfer”.
I would hope this Council has learned its lesson and will drop the “red herring” items.
That’s when they threatened to cull “lollipop” school traffic attendants and even Dalmiling golf course.
And when they didn’t - claimed they were the good guys who listened to the public.
It was an outrageous scam! Will there be funding set aside for the proposed ‘ golf academy’ and other Common Good land commercialisation?
What is the budget for the hundreds of people being displaced from the Riverside high flats?
Is there money set aside for the advancement of the falling down Ayr Station Hotel . . . or the burned down Belleisle House Hotel?
And what is happening to the old
Hourstons site . . . or the Kyle Day Centre?
The annual budget is meant to give us answers.
But if SAC is true to form - it will only mean more questions.
In my opening paragraph - I mentioned “openness, transparency and consultation”.
Considering we haven’t seen any of them in the last three years . . .. I’m not holding my breath that any one of them will suddenly appear in the next three weeks!
Do your best - or your worst SAC. Either way - we’re all watching!
I would hope this Council has learned its lesson and will drop the ‘ red herring’ items