Isles budget means five per cent council tax rise
As the population becomes more climate conscious, people are looking for extra ways to reduce their impact on the environment.
One way is to segregate food from general waste because as food breaks down in landfill, it releases methane into the atmosphere, a substance many times more potent than carbon dioxide.
At the moment, recycling of food waste – to be made into things like compost for local authorities to use – is only carried out in urban areas, with Inverness being the only place in Highland where ram is Slàinte nan Eilean Siar budget by passing on in full the additional monies in the settlement.
‘I am, however, concerned about the present deficit in the IJB which is one of the reasons why it is important that we protect reserves as much as we can. Our available capital funding has also reduced by some £1.4m and, if funding continues at this level, we will have a £5m shortfall in our 2018-23 programme.
‘I am therefore recommending – there is no alternative – that we undertake an urgent review of the programme for us to consider at the next series of meetings.
‘The two biggest projects in our programme, the Lewis Residential Care Development and Castlebay Campus are flagship projects that show what can be delivered through partnership working. However, we must not lose sight of the need for investment our roads and infrastructure.
‘This is a difficult budget for all councils but, thanks to our prudent planning and strategic use of balances in this and previous years, we are able to plan our savings in a measured way.
‘Nonetheless I am recommending that we use the additional flexibility that the Scottish Government has given us to raise Council Tax by 4.84 per cent, which, for nine in every 10 households on our islands will be no more than £1.01 a week.
‘There remains a risk we may need to revisit our budget following the Scottish Government and UK budget approvals in early March but in the meantime this budget represents a reasonable and responsible continuation of the journey we started in 2018 and I recommend that we continue to work together to implement these recommendations.’