Council buildings

The Audit Commission have complained about Scottish councils not keeping their buildings up to standard, which is fair comment, BUT....

As COSLA have rightly pointed out, the Councils don't have the resources to maintain all the buildings to an adequate standard.

And herein lies the dilemma for the Comhairle; with conflicting demands being placed on them without adequate cash to do the needful. This is going to become a major - and I mean truly enormous - problem, with absolutely no easy answers. And we as Council tax payers and recipients of services are going to have to face the consequences.

One simple, current, example:

• Small rural schools are (generally) substandard, as they were build for bigger pupil numbers and need extensive and expensive repairs
  
• The Government are going to stop rural schools from being closed
• A schools rationalisation programme is necessary, for both educational and financial reasons
• The rebuilding of the Nicolson Institute (and the whole PPP scheme) can only be justified and proceed if the schools rationalisation goes ahead
• There is no money

This is going to get worse, as budgets are squeezed over the next three years and the blame game means that pointing fingers at another branch of government will become the norm. All the while the buildings will deteriorate, making the situation worse.

This is a problem that every party is going to have to face and deal with, but as the economic drivers are forcing budget cuts it is difficult to see how it can be resolved.

(Despite much encouragement, I avoided the easy comment about the state of the White House on Sandwick Road; and the 'poor or bad' condition of the contents!)