Holyrood weather cash row

A senior PKC councillor has slated the Scottish Government for the way they handled 2018’s bad weather.

The council’s strategic policy and resources committee were notified of a £1.5m overspend on winter maintenance following severe winter conditions at their meeting on Wednesday.

They were also advised that as little as £400,000 could be expected in assistance from the Scottish Government.

After the meeting Cllr Peter Barrett, who has been extremely critical of the response to winter conditions said:“The government have abandoned councils.

“We now face a multi-million pound black hole in our pothole and winter maintenance budget.”

The city centre Lib Dem accused the Scottish Government of cynical sleight of hand over triggering the Bellwin Formula, designed to assist councils to deal with exceptional event costs.

The formula was withdrawn by the Scottish Government before any council had the chance to submit a claim.

Cllr Barrett said:“At the height of the severe weather and while we were dealing with snow drifts several metres deep SNP minister Derek Mackay said he would stand by councils and communities.

“Only a month later he has gone back on his word and is shortchanging those same people.”

The local authority has repaired nine out of ten potholes in the region but Cllr Barrett does not feel this is good enough.

He said:“We have repaired 4828 potholes out of 5251 reported between November and the end of February. That is 92 per cent compared to a national average of 78 per cent.

“But that still leaves more than 400 potholes outstanding and it doesn’t take account of the further damage caused by the Beast from the East.”