Offer will make PKC less reliant on grant
The council’s proposal to integrate with the private sector will make the authority less reliant on government funding in future, according to leader Murray Lyle.
The Perth and Kinross Offer, a commercialisation strategy which would see PKC integrate with external bodies to co-produce projects throughout the region, was praised by the Accounts Commission in August last year.
The strategy is said to create a more equal partnership between the council, the region’s residents, partners and local communities.
In an exclusive sit down interview with the PA, Cllr Lyle said merging with the commercial branch would mean the local authority’s budget constraints will be less dependant on grant funding from the Scottish Government.
Cllr Lyle called the latest Scottish Government budget the “toughest” in his time at the council as it prepares to announce its own proposals on March 6.
However, the constraints on the council as a result of the national budget could be a thing of the past if the PK Offer is implemented.
He said: “The figure that we have just now for over the three years is that there is a £9 million shortfall in our budget.
“More than 50 per cent of that shortfall falls in year one.
“The challenge with that is that it doesn’t really take into account the rise in demand pressures over the three years as well, so there will inevitably be more savings to cope in such areas as health and social care.
“We’ve got to look to the Perth and Kinross Offer and part of that is a commercialisation strategy within the council where we have to integrate more with the private sector going forward.
“And by that I don’t mean employ the private sector, I mean integrating and co-producing projects.
“It is an absolute necessity.
“A lot of councils are looking at it, but I think we are going to lead on it because I am very enthusiastic about it.
“I want to promote Perth as much as possible, I want to see the economy growing and see a prosperous Perth and to do that we have to do more than just take budgets from the Scottish Government every year.”
According to Cllr Lyle, the strategy would see more flexible services throughout the different wards in the region.
“Through the Perth and Kinross Offer we can find out what communities priorities really are and they will be different in different areas,” he said.
“Kinross will be different from Blairgowrie, from Aberfeldy, from Crieff, and the offer will help us understand that.
“You need that flexibility and it is one of the things none of the other local authorities have at the moment, and that will provide a better, more sustainable service and a more affordable service as far as the council is concerned.
“We have been good at supporting our rural communities.
“We have kept the roads in a steady state and managed to maintain many rural bus services where other councils have actually no budget now for subsidising buses.
“But it becomes a challenge and you get tough decisions as to whether, for example, you want to keep your pupil/ teacher ratios at a high level and beyond the Scottish average or you are prepared to make sacrifices there to supply isolated communities with a local service.
“We have been able to do things previously to help mitigate our cuts and position, but there are no rabbits coming out this year where we can say we have done something clever to refinance a project because we have done these things previously.”