Councils ‘at breaking point’ due to cutbacks

SNP urged to provide ‘fair’ funding ahead of budget

councils are at ‘breaking point’ with massive budget cuts threatening the future of communities, bosses have warned.

scottish local authority chiefs say further cuts will put key services at risk of collapse.

council umbrella body cosla yesterday argued that reductions to money for essential services have damaged ‘the heart of communities’ and have caused people to lose pride in their homes.

cosla president Alison Evison is calling for a ‘fair’ funding settlement ahead of the scottish Government budget. she said targets for climate change and poverty will be missed because of reduced funding, along with education and other key areas. she added that social isolation is rising and people are losing pride in their local areas as council budgets are squeezed. spending watchdog the Accounts commission recently revealed there had been a funding fall of 7.6 per cent over the past five years. it said the financial position of scots local authorities was ‘increasingly unsustainable’ with scottish Government funding to councils dropping ‘significantly’. The commission recommended a ‘transformation’ in how services are delivered in future.

Figures from the Accounts commission showed that 23 out of scotland’s 32 councils had drawn from their reserves last year, with a net reduction of £45million.

cosla has published a release stating councils’ budgets ‘are at breaking point’. Miss Evison said: ‘Without adequate investment in scotland’s councils the cracks are starting to show. in every indicator whether it is economic growth, tackling climate change, wellbeing or child poverty, cuts to council budgets will mean targets are missed.

‘This goes to the heart of our communities. We have a situation where communities are losing their sense of pride as social isolation rises due to community projects and initiatives being cut.

‘if the scottish Government is serious about creating sustainable communities, they must provide councils with a fair settlement.’

A scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Despite further cuts to the scottish Budget from the uK Government, we have ensured our partners in local government receive a fair funding settlement – delivering a funding package of £11.2billion for all local authorities in 2019-20, a real terms increase of more than £310million.

‘Any assumptions relating to possible future budget settlements are entirely speculative at this stage.’

Comment – Page 14