Council’s £3.7m budget cuts ‘not too bad’

Argyll and Bute Council’s one-year budget, due to be announced at the end of February, has to find savings to fill a £3.7 million gap, Islay Community Council has heard.

Islay councillor and council leader Robin Currie said most savings would come from operational management, but some would have policy implications. ‘Savings will have to be made,’ he said, ‘but it is not looking too bad in that a lot of the savings that are being proposed are what is termed operational matters which can be taken by officers.

‘There’s not the big issues that necessitated going out to public consultation the way we did in the last few years. At this stage I do not think, and I certainly hope, that we do not have to go into the areas that we did two, three, four years ago, which were not pleasant.

‘There is still a long way to go. We will be working right up to the budget.’ Councillor Currie said rising inflation, currently at 5.4 per cent, also presents a problem for the council coffers, but a bigger one is the ‘10 to 30 per cent’ hike in the cost of building materials, which will put a ‘big pressure’ on its expenditure on capital projects.