Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fees for council services in Aberdeen have almost trebled in last few years

Aberdeen City Council HQ
Aberdeen City Council HQ

Income from fees for council services in Aberdeen has almost trebled in four years as city residents are asked to plug the local authority’s funding gap.

New figures show the amount raised by the city council through charges has increased by 191%, from £14 million to almost £41 million in the period.

It was by far the highest rise in Scotland, comparing to a 1% average increase across the nation and more than double the next highest authority, Aberdeenshire Council, where income from fees has risen by 89% since 2012-13.

Only Glasgow and Edinburgh now take in more money from charges for services such as burials, parking and social care provision than Aberdeen, which is the country’s lowest funded council per head of population.

When total revenue and council tax income is combined, research by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre also confirms that Aberdeen receives the least, at £1,836 per person, followed by Edinburgh’s £1,853, Moray’s £2,000 and Aberdeenshire’s £2,011.

The Scottish average was £2,167, while the three island local authorities had the highest incomes per person, followed by Argyll and Bute.

All councils had experienced a drop in revenue per person since 2013-14, with Western Isles dropping by the most, at £504, followed by Shetland’s fall of £346 and Argyll and Bute decreasing by £288.

Orkney Islands Council had the lowest decrease per person in Scotland, at just £6.

In total, between 2013-14 and 2017-18, there was a 7.1% fall – £744.7 million – in the local government revenue settlement from the Scottish Government

Douglas Lumsden, co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, said: “With the challenges the region faces from business rates to the downturn, Aberdeen must start to receive a better deal from the SNP government.”

A spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla added: “There is no doubt that councils have suffered the brunt of cuts in recent years and the simple truth is that Scotland’s councils have no room left to manoeuvre in terms of budgets.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “These figures exclude a number of important, additional funding sources, including £355 million for health and social care and £150 million of funding that is provided outwith the core settlement, but which benefits local government.

“When those are included, there has been a slight decrease of just 0.8% between 2013 and 2019, compared to a 1.8% cut to the Scottish Government revenue budget over the same period.”