Early pavement gritting to halt
Controversial cutbacks to the roads budget will come into force next winter as West Lothian Council’s Executive agreed to cutbacks.
It means that salting of primary footpaths before rush hour will stop in November next year as part of a range of measures to save more than £2.5m - a quarter of the department’s budget over the next five years.
Currently only nine per cent of the footpath network is treated between 5am and 8am. When it moves to an 8am start next year, there will be no change to the treatment of West Lothian’s road network. Officials highlighted that the early morning footpath salting costs £66,000 in staff standby payments and £39,000 for 12 saltings,or £105,000 for 22 weeks.
Officials said almost half of the budget savings would come from cutbacks in staffing - the loss of 41 full-time equivalent posts. Remaining staff will also see the impact in smaller pay-packets as overtime reduces and shift patterns change.
The service will concentrate on statutory works and less on discretionary services. As one official told the meeting:“As less funding is available the fabric will deteriorate at an increased rate.”
West Lothian has had better than average roads but without the spending assets will degrade, with the biggest pressure being on road and footpath maintenance. Repairs to potholes will be prioritised in terms of inspection and inspections make take longer to follow up.
Councillor Chris Horne asked:“Are we not just storing up a massive bill for ourselves?.”Officials agreed.
Councillor Horne asked where the council was in terms of a facing a tough winter.“We are at the bare bones”, was the reply from officials. While the Beast from the East of this March was a short lived bout of bad weather a winter of the severity of 2010 would be a more serious issue.
Councillor Harry Cartmill said: “This paper demonstrates the gross underfunding of local government.”
Councillor Diane Calder, of the SNP, described the report as doom and gloom and she proposed an amendment to delay the decision until terms and conditions for job cuts and changes could be discussed with unions.
In going to a vote this was defeated.
After the meeting Executive councillor for the Environment Tom Conn, said:“There are extremely difficult decisions ahead as we look to find the savings needed to balance the budget.
“Whilst nobody likes to see services being reduced, it is not possible to maintain the current level of service across the council with a budget gap of over £65 million in the next five years.”