Swimming pools will be closed, funding is being pulled from a charity supporting children with disabilities, and money for mental health services slashed.
It all happened and more in this week’s scrabble by local authorities across the north and the north-east to balance their books.
And the new budgets they have set will cost society’s most vulnerable dear, councillors of all colours have said.
It was a week too when cash pots set aside for measures many experts say may slow climate change were smashed open.
The funds instead diverted to ‘here-and-now’ pressures, like potholes endangering lives on the road.
Reaction to climate change decisions
The Greens in Highland Council accused the local authority of passing a budget for “dinosaurs and petrol-heads”.
“This was a sad day for the Highlands,” said Green group leader Chris Ballance.
“Decisions were taken to strip a £734,000 pot earmarked for climate action and energy efficiency, end maintenance on the West Highland Way and Great Glen, slash the budget for active travel, and redirect it all into roads.
“We proposed a budget for people, jobs and the climate — but what we’ve got is a budget for petrol heads and cars. And dinosaurs.”
Inverness Critical Mass cycle campaign group also hit out.
Its spokeswoman Susan Guest said cutting money from active travel was a set-back for those who can’t afford a car.
In a tweet post, the group described it as “a big middle finger to the car-less and the climate”.
This glossing over that money was taken from the active travel budget to pay for roads – a big middle finger to the carless, and the climate https://t.co/D0ajI2NSi8
— Critical Mass Inverness (@CMInverness) March 3, 2023
Net zero for climate change by 2030? ‘Not at this rate’
Moray Council meanwhile is scrapping it plans to hire an officer to keep tabs on its climate change strategy.
Councillors are deleting the post presumably without even having interviewed anyone for it.
They agreed back in September that the full time climate change strategy officer post was an essential part of the council’s journey towards net zero by 2030.
They said the officer was needed because the existing climate change team did not have the capacity.
Err…on second thoughts…
But now, council officers are advising there is capacity after all within the existing climate change team.
The council’s leader Kathleen Robertson said the post had been proving hard to fill.
She added: “Reaching net zero by 2030 is extremely ambitious. Without adequate funding from the SNP/Green-led government the reality is it will not be met.
“The overall funding situation for local government has been well-documented over recent days and we will be looking at significant service cuts and job losses over the next year.
“Please be reassured that we are committed to the climate change agenda, but it has to be delivered within the resources we have available.”
‘Beware self-fulfilling prophesy’
Moray council’s only Green councillor Draeyk Van Der Horn said: “You could argue that by not allowing that investment within the climate team it will be a self-fulfilling prophesy.
“We have got to have more of a can-do attitude. We are developing a can’t-do approach.”
He went on: “We need more funding and where that comes from isn’t down just to the Scottish Government, who’ve made great strides on funding climate action.
“It’s also down to the UK Government who’ve shown they are not taking climate action seriously.”
More reading
- Aberdeen Beach Leisure Centre and Bucksburn Swimming Pool to CLOSE after £700,000 cut
- Highland Council budget: Cuts to children’s charities squeak through, as roads investment and 4% council tax rise agreed
- ‘Collegiate’ approach secures minority Conservative administration’s budget for Moray Council
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