The cuts agenda
A few Councillors have spoken to me about their despair at having to decide upon and implement massive cuts in the Council expenditure.
The most common line has been along the lines of "I didn't join the Council to do this!"
Some Councillors have spoken of a possible rebellion on the back benches against the sheer scale of what they are being expected to do. This is - at least in part - because they feel powerless to alter the changes being presented to them for "discussion", which they feel as actually being a fait accompli, with the real decision having been taken elsewhere by others.
I don't think that there will be a rebellion, except on a couple of smallish issues which affect particular areas - the Barra-Benbecula airlink is one that keeps cropping up.
However, if a Councillor tells me that they feel as if they as if they are being asked to write a new cookbook, but have absolutely no choice over the 4 ingredients they are being presented with, then what does that say about the sincerity and appropriateness of the public meetings to consider the cuts?
But that's not where the problem lies.
The problem for the Western Isles lies in the formula used to establish the grant support. We faced the worst cut in Scotland of 4.5%, and will face it again in future years, for the simple reason that the formula cut was much, much worse. It was only as low as 4.5% because we got a huge subsidy from other councils - the so called "floor mechanism" that is supposed to even out the winners and losers.
The entire basis of the grant calculation is weighted against the Western Isles, and unless there is serious and prolonged campaign to amened this formula we are facing a series of cuts, cuts and cuts in public services.
Our MSP needs to be actively campaigning for this and engaging with the Council and the Scottish Government in what is a very complex series of financial computations. Word from inside the Council is that he has not engaged with their arguments, or provided substantive support to them in any way.
The impact of the formula can best be illustrated by the fact that opening or closing rural schools doesn't affect the grant the Council receives by more than a few £'000, when in reality the actual cost is closer to £1 million.
This may all sound a bit like the Schleswig-Holstein question but it will have much more of an impact on the Western Isles than fuel duty reduction, ADS or even the quasi-RET scheme will ever have.
The most common line has been along the lines of "I didn't join the Council to do this!"
Some Councillors have spoken of a possible rebellion on the back benches against the sheer scale of what they are being expected to do. This is - at least in part - because they feel powerless to alter the changes being presented to them for "discussion", which they feel as actually being a fait accompli, with the real decision having been taken elsewhere by others.
I don't think that there will be a rebellion, except on a couple of smallish issues which affect particular areas - the Barra-Benbecula airlink is one that keeps cropping up.
However, if a Councillor tells me that they feel as if they as if they are being asked to write a new cookbook, but have absolutely no choice over the 4 ingredients they are being presented with, then what does that say about the sincerity and appropriateness of the public meetings to consider the cuts?
But that's not where the problem lies.
The problem for the Western Isles lies in the formula used to establish the grant support. We faced the worst cut in Scotland of 4.5%, and will face it again in future years, for the simple reason that the formula cut was much, much worse. It was only as low as 4.5% because we got a huge subsidy from other councils - the so called "floor mechanism" that is supposed to even out the winners and losers.
The entire basis of the grant calculation is weighted against the Western Isles, and unless there is serious and prolonged campaign to amened this formula we are facing a series of cuts, cuts and cuts in public services.
Our MSP needs to be actively campaigning for this and engaging with the Council and the Scottish Government in what is a very complex series of financial computations. Word from inside the Council is that he has not engaged with their arguments, or provided substantive support to them in any way.
The impact of the formula can best be illustrated by the fact that opening or closing rural schools doesn't affect the grant the Council receives by more than a few £'000, when in reality the actual cost is closer to £1 million.
This may all sound a bit like the Schleswig-Holstein question but it will have much more of an impact on the Western Isles than fuel duty reduction, ADS or even the quasi-RET scheme will ever have.
12 comments:
.....The most common line has been along the lines of "I didn't join the Council to do this!"....
So what did they think was going to happen? 'Business as usual' where savings were proposed and they could all happily go on ignoring them and continue to garner non-strategic benefits for their own communities - which could be announced with great local public acclamation of the member concerned?
They only need to look at their past and their own performances to see where most of the fault lies.
WI councillors to blame for global financial meltdown. Is Davos still on? Has anyone told them?
On a serious note all this hand wringing is not doing anyone any favours. What we need is a plan to exploit the many broadcast hours of good publicity the island has received this winter. Let’s get the finger out.
7:42 Yes, the islands has been on TV and radio a lot this winter. And it's been mostly good, even if it's gone into rose-tinted territory at times.
The problem is nearly every house hunter, mover, relocation researcher does some hunting around on line now before making the jump. And then they often discover, very quickly, that things aren't quite as rosy as they are on TV.
The council is in debt and massive cuts are inevitable. Schools are being closed, and those that open have extreme practices, such as building cages for autistic children. There is a significant alcoholism problem across the islands. There is crime here, from violence to drugs to oil theft. Petrol is astonishingly expensive. The ferries are increasingly unreliable. Property is not always as it appears (stinky bay?). High profile criminals being rehabilitated are relocated to the islands "away" from the mainland media, while other ex-cons, of often very serious crimes, buy houses in islands in the Uists and inevitably cause problems there.
It's another of many reasons why it's mostly seniors who move to the islands. That's the one demographic which doesn't do much online research. If they did, wonder how many would still relocate here....
2.35 am You're a cheerful soul! What is it your saying? When the going gets tough the tough sit around and have a whinge. I'm not talking about relocators I'm talking about scalping tourists - I mean providing spending opportunities for those that choose to spend their valuable leisure time with us. Tourism is the only game in town at the moment so we'd better get with it.
11:24 Here's the current cost of crude oil.
Enjoy your £9 gallon of petrol, coming shortly. And the deserted roads to drive it on, as when tourists find out how expensive it is to drive here...
8.40 We all know were in the shit but throwing your hands in the air and saying it’s all hopeless so there’s no point trying is the biggest defeatist crock I have ever heard. This island is sitting on a pile of unrealised assets. Renewables, tourism and agriculture are all criminally under exploited. I for one intend to exploit all of them for all I am worth over the next few years. There’s no point worrying about what you don’t have, look at what you do have and make the most of it. Good luck to you.
Good publicity about the Western Isles? Here's an article from the Guardian/Observer just yesterday about the Sunday opening row.
7:42 (And others) the islands have been on the tele a lot this winter. But the power of the tele is diminishing as more people go on line to do more direct research before deciding on their holiday. Television is become niche and quaint.
And, tied with that, is the increase in people doing "tell it how it is" blogs, reviews, online diaries, wiki amendments, tweets about their holiday.
Here's a classic example about a day in a holiday where a family stayed on Berneray. There's good points that encourage others to visit. But also bad points that discourage in that article, such as the incomer from London who lives near the east beach of Berneray and gets abusive, and sometimes violent, to anyone who walks on the beach or parks on the croft land, even a mile away.
You don't see the bad points on the tele programs. You do when you research the islands online which, whether you like it or not, many people do.
It's on the internet so it must be true. You need to get out more. As for the Guardian, there isn't a paper I have read yet that is as full of trendy, liberal, pish as it. A student paper for unreconstructed nitwit Chomskyites.
9:12 There's an irony you probably can't spot about writing that online...
Very basic fact. Whether stuff is true or not, online or in any media or medium, it's what people have to go on. So influence their decisions it will.
9:12 The Internet has untruths? The Guardian is leftie pish?
Sounds like you're a nice right-wing Daily Mail reader. Would you like to read - online, I'm afraid - just how accurate the Daily Mail is? Then read this, and the comments from other people who've had the Daily Mail invent stuff about them and destroy their lives.
And then go and crawl back into your cave of right wing hatred, loathing, anger and righteous bile.
Aye, and the Daily Mail also has John MacLeod! How can anyone resist!
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