Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Leader calls on Holyrood to stump up
North Lanarkshire Council’s leader has called on the Scottish Government to properly fund crucial local services in the area ahead of the Scottish Budget next week.
Councillor Jim Logue says without adequate funding, it will be “impossible” for the local authority to “continue to provide services which local people rely on at the levels they are entitled to expect”.
Councillor Logue told the Advertiser: “there is no doubt at all that continued reductions in the budget for local services have a serious and lasting impact on people in North Lanarkshire and proper funding could help ease the pressure on the NHS.
“In our case, more than £225 million has been cut over the last decade, and our medium-term financial forecast is that we will have a budget gap in excess of more than £70 million across the next three financial years.
“Against that backdrop, it is impossible to continue to provide services which local people rely on at the levels they are entitled to expect. I fully support COSLA’S Live Well Locally campaign as councils must have the resources to contribute to the improved health and wellbeing of people in North Lanarkshire.
“Without adequate funding, we are looking at the possibility of our three local hospitals not having the capacity to receive people in dire need of essential treatment this winter, when councils could be better funded to play a role in preventative, intervention and recovery services.
“Council services work very closely with NHS Lanarkshire already and make a vital difference to people in our communities who have access to social care, children and adult services, justice services, suicide prevention, addiction and community support.
“We understand our local communities, we know what their local needs and challenges are and through The Plan for North Lanarkshire and by working with partners, the council is making significant progress to address these challenges.”
Councillor Louge threw his backing to the COSLA Live Well Locally campaign by saying: “this region has higher than average levels of child poverty and poor mental health and lower life expectancy than the Scottish average and people are experiencing more complex needs as the populations ages.
“We are working hard to address these challenges but we could be doing so much more to improve people’s health and wellbeing if we were properly funded to do so.
“It is clear that local government has been the poor relation in terms of successive budgets and the Live Well Locally COSLA campaign underlines that the Scottish Government must support councils in driving economic recovery and providing vital services.”