Fraught deals and talks go on behind the scenes
While fraught deals and discussions had undoubtedly gone on behind the scenes, by the time councillors reached their packed chambers at Viewforth on Thursday evening, peace - on the face of it - appeared to have broken out.
Councillors unanimously voted to temporarily extend the current contract with Active Stirling up to November 30 and officials will now work to complete a full business case and transition plan so services currently provided by Active Stirling can transfer to a Stirling-based not-for-profit charitable trust.
Council leader Johanna Boyd said:“I acknowledge it’s been an unsettling time for staff at Active Stirling, seasonal workers, volunteers who give up so much of their time to ensure these services are delivered to those that might need them and to those that use these services.
“It is important to remember the ethos of the trust that was originally created by Stirling Council.
“It was to be locally based, not-forprofit, and a charitable trust that recycled any surplus back into these vital services.
“All the elected members don’t want any outcome that would deviate from that. It is important to remind everyone that this council has a policy against commercial outsourcing.”
Councillor Boyd said she had received advice late on Wednesday from Price Waterhouse Cooper which said that given the highly competitive marketplace that now existed for local authorities some commercial enterprises had entered the market with “complicated trading structures”.
SNP group leader Councillor Scott Farmer said:“We as a group have consistently opposed competitive tendering and it would be churlish of me to be anything but magnanimous but it’s a victory for common sense.
“The staff have gone through a tortuous process and it is a tribute to their professionalism that they have continued to carry out their work as they have. We are not going to be exposed to the sharks of the private sector.“
Green councillor Mark Ruskell said: “They say you never truly understand the value of something until you lose it so I would like to thank everyone who has emailed on behalf of all the councillors who have been contacted in recent weeks and the dedication of staff in providing these services. Improvements in delivery are going to have to be made but the right vehicle to do that is a charitable trust.”
Depute council leader Councillor Neil Benny said:“It’s been a useful exercise from our point of view in terms of where we go and what it will look like in the future.
“It will help us understand the aspirations and needs of the community and we can build something better into the future.”
SNP councillor Alasdair MacPherson said:“I have emails from the GMB, Unison and Unite trade unions which all confirm that they were no consultation over the the Labour/Tory coalition’s plans to privatise leisure services, despite the fact that 350 employees would have been impacted by the decision.”
“Councillor Boyd said at last week’s meeting that she met the trade unions the day before last week’s meeting, which was a startling admission to make. Her admission should not come as a surprise to anyone as the unholy alliance that she has lead for the last five years has adopted the Tory attitude towards trade unions which is to treat them with utter contempt.”