Moray Greens
Moray Greens Oppose Proposed Budget Cuts and Question Consultation Process
— 21 December 2009
The Moray Greens are opposing the budget cuts proposed by The Moray Council. “Most of the proposals would affect the most vulnerable people in our society, including the young, the elderly and those with additional support needs,” said Moray Greens Convenor Fabio Villani. “We question both the need for and the wisdom of these proposals.”
“In June, the Council identified potential efficiency savings of £4·4 million per annum, and promised to come up with detailed plans to realise them. (1) A few months later, these promised efficiency savings have shrunk to just £4 million in total by 2012/13. (2) The plans for delivering the full efficiency savings should have been developed by now, and should make the proposed budget cuts for 2010/11 largely or even completely unnecessary.”
Mr Villani went on to say that the Greens would support the reallocation of funds from efficiency savings to frontline services. “We would like to see a range of efficiency savings, including a reduction of the number of directorates within the council – with a focus on reducing the number of high-salaried director and head of service posts – and efficient-government initiatives based on better joint working with other government agencies – such as the NHS and HIE Moray.
“We would also like to see savings based on greater energy efficiency (which would also result in a partial refund of the Climate Change Levy the Council pays to the Government) and on properly supported waste reduction and recycling strategies (which would also result in lower landfill tax costs).
“These measures should save more than enough money to meet the current financial pressures. The rest of money saved in this way could then be used to support the very groups threatened in the Council’s budget proposals.
“There is also potential to work in closer partnership with communities across Moray, for example in the management of local leisure and community facilities. However, while this approach could result in mid- to long-term savings, such initiatives are only likely to succeed if driven by a desire for greater community empowerment – rather than by short-term budgetary considerations – and supported by adequate investment.”
The Moray Greens welcomed the Council’s willingness to consult, but expressed serious concerns about the consultation process. “The time allocated for the consultation was much too short” said Mr Villani. “We would like to see a proper participatory budgeting process, which gives communities the opportunity to be involved in the whole development of budgets, rather than just commenting on the Council’s own proposals. This is now common practice in many countries, and has already been used by some local authorities in England.”
Notes:
(1) The Single Outcome Agreement for 2009/10 states:
“The Council is using the national toolkit which was developed by the Improvement Service during 2008/09. This work has identified potential efficiency savings of £4·4 million per annum and the Council has committed significant additional resources to progress detailed design and implementation plans” (Moray Community Planning Partnership Single Outcome Agreement 2009/10, Final Version, June 2009, page 45.)
(2) Efficiency Savings, page 8 and Financial Plan Overview, page 12, in the Budget Consultation and Communication Pack.
