Green influence means budget delivers for PKC

This year’s Green budget deal will in the long run dig council services out of the financial hole they have been in for decades.

Perth and Kinross Council residents have been asked the same questions every year about where damaging cuts should fall.

But in the last two years of budget deals between the Greens and SNP, services have been saved and this year’s deal brought a further £5.4 million to help plug the gap.

The cuts to school crossing patrols would have happened this year were it not for that extra money coming in. But once again Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MSPs have sat on their hands and delivered nothing but empty criticism. Tory tax proposals would have stripped over £500m out of council services across Scotland decimating services from schools to social care and roads maintenance.

This year’s Holyrood budget is still challenging for councils, there is still a gap that needs to be closed. In light of rising demand, councils need more powers to raise money to protect frontline services. We cannot afford to allow the funding crisis to repeat year after year, fundamental changes are needed.

As part of this year’s agreement the first steps will be taken to finally scrap the council tax and a new fairer system of local tax will be brought in, with a parliamentary bill lodged within this parliamentary session.

We have secured a commitment to a stable funding settlement for councils, over three years, so they can plan rather than lurching from one year’s budget to the next.

New powers are being put in place to set up a tourism levy, a tax on vacant and derelict land and a workplace car parking levy to give councils the tools and choices about how to raise more revenue locally.

An increase in the plastic bag tax and a levy on single use coffee cups are other powers that combined can raise significant sums to protect services while solving litter problems.

A tourism levy is a no brainer for Perthshire. Straight after the budget, Edinburgh announced it would be the first council to adopt the levy because it will bring in millions of pounds every year to protect services and facilities that visitors and locals use.

A modest levy of £1-£2 a night would be unnoticed by visitors and is now the norm across much of Europe. We have seen for example many public toilet closures over the years, a tourism levy could help re-open them or invest in other facilities.

It’s important that councils choose with local residents which powers are used and how. There has been much debate for example about powers to introduce a workplace parking levy.

The levy may be more applicable to larger congested cities with more pressure on car parking than Perth.

However we need to recognise that financial support for bus services across the area have faced huge cuts, leaving the third of people who have no access to a car largely abandoned.

I’d like to see major employers with larger car parks make more of a contribution to fund solutions for their own staff and the wider public.

Councils have been hamstrung by a lack of financial powers and public services have been crippled as a result.

They will now have more power and choices to make about how to raise revenue and protect services.