Keeping parking charges at bay

ANGUS Council’s SNP administration is on a collision course with officials over the possible return of car parking charges.

And as the council enters budgetsetting week, the ruling group has also said it will not be following the suggestion of officials to axe all of the area’s lollipop people to save money.

But the collection cost of a garden waste bin is set to jump 25% from £40 to £50. And electric car drivers face a rise of more than 30% in the cost of plugging in to a public charger – along with a £10 overstay charge.

And Angus residents can expect to see increases of around 10% across the board for everything from the cost of a burial plot to the price of a round of crazy golf.

The council meets to set its budget on Thursday. But the SNP administration has already said it will not back calls to bring back parking charges.

They failed to generate the forecast income when re-introduced in 2018 after more than 20 years. And meters have been under cover for almost four years since Covid-19.

Instead the ruling group will use a one-off payment to cover the budgeted £315,000 income this year.

Officials also wanted to do away with school crossing patrollers in a move which would save £50,000 this year and around £250,000 in 2025/26.

Authority leader Beth Whiteside said her group will not agree to that on Thursday. However, plans are progressing to cut the number of community wardens by a third to save £175,000.

The council leader said: “Once more we are faced with incredibly difficult decisions, balancing the priorities of looking after the most vulnerable in our society while supporting the hard-working people of Angus. We believe the choices we have made in our budget proposal offer the best options for reaching a balanced budget.”

A council house rent increase of 6.7% – the highest for more than a decade – has already been approved by councillors.

It seems likely Angus will take up the £2.84 million on offer from the Scottish Government for applying a council tax freeze this year.

But finance spokesman Bill Duff said that decision will be revealed at the budget meeting.

REPRIEVE: Parking ticket machines in Angus have been shut off since the pandemic and the SNP administration wants them to stay that way.