More than £7m to be invested in projects around communities
An additional sum of £7.042 million was identified for investments.
It has been provided on a one-off basis, and it is at councillors’discretion as to how this will be spent.
The cross-party working group detailed how it will be allocated in the proposed budget.
Firstly, an investment of £500,000 over a two-year period will be put into prioritising volunteers and to develop volunteering strategies to ensure all volunteers are valued.
A further £800,000 will be injected into community-led services to allow local community groups to act on innovative ideas.
As well as this, a community development worker will be appointed for a two-year period to work alongside community groups.
There will also be an investment of £60,000 for a community wish list scheme which will allow communities to express wishes and local businesses will help to support them.
The council leader called this an “excellent way of establishing a better connection between local communities and local businesses”.
A further £300,000 will be invested into cardio fitness and rehabilitation equipment across a variety of South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture fitness gyms to attract new members and promote a physically active lifestyle, benefiting both physical and mental health outcomes.
There will be a £800,000 injection into a children and young persons change fund to provide additional capacity for interventions at the early years stages, to ensure children can benefit fully from education.
This will also provide support for children with parental substance misuse, mental health, address adverse childhood events and reduce referrals to social work.
The new budget aims to tackle waste management and fly-tipping as £628,000 will be invested to address four specific challenges which were identified – food waste in rural communities, recycling in tenement properties and fly tipping in both rural and urban areas.
Finally, £2.5m will be allocated to improving pavements and footpaths across South Lanarkshire with the goal to make towns and villages safe for pedestrians and to support healthy lifestyles through physical activity.
The remainder of the money which was allocated for investments will be dedicated to keeping council tax at a 2.5 per cent increase – £1.4m will be added to this. The aim of this is to reduce further financial hardship to households in South Lanarkshire.
Additional funding from two capital programmes were also presented, showing an investment of £82.284m into general services and a further £52.230m through the housing capital programme.
Areas for capital investment include libraries, roads throughout South Lanarkshire, community alarm system, schools and active travel.
Improvements in central heating and enhanced window insulation for council tenants to reduce bills was also outlined.