COUNCIL tax payers will benefit from a freeze in rates as Argyll and Bute Council set its budget for the next three years.
Additional investment of £26 million will be allocated for roads and £17 million to the school estate in a unique budget which saw the entire council support the plans.
A further £1 million has been put towards care for the elderly and £1 million for street lighting with £10 million going to support town centre and waterfront projects in the five main towns in Argyll.
Council Leader Dick Walsh summed up by saying: ‘Our budget continues the investment in the people of Argyll and Bute, for the young – in terms of education, for the elderly and disadvantaged – in terms of services such as social work, for providing a range of leisure and recreational activities and for providing appropriate infrastructure and support to enable our economy to grow.’
Councillor Gary Mulvaney, leader of the Argyll and Bute Conservative group, said: ‘This budget has a real focus on service delivery and on the bread and butter issues that matter to people. The additional monies into care of the elderly, roads and transportation and school estates, will help to deliver better service for the people of Argyll and Bute.
‘It’s about delivering for our communities and this budget shows what we can do if we all work together.’
It was not all good news, however, as major road works such as the Tobermory-Salen road on Mull has been put on hold. Councillors are hoping for additional funding from central government to proceed with these projects.
Mull councillor Mary-Jean Devon responded to this news, saying: ‘I’m extremely disappointed that a few large projects have disappeared such as the Mull road. Councillor Mulvaney said we are getting back to bread and butter projects but this may literally be taking bread and butter away from people.’
Councillor Ellen Morton, leader of the Argyll and Bute Liberal Democrat group, supported the budget but also acknowledged the work ahead: ‘I’m delighted to support the budget. This is what local people want and what local people deserve. We still face testing times ahead of us. The budget relies on the delivery of efficiency savings and that’s not always an easy task. We need to take on large projects like the Mull road and at the moment it’s not clear how we can do that.’
Opportunity Kintyre and Here We Are in Cairndow are also to see their funding removed. Council leader Dick Walsh said he would be looking for alternative funding sources to support these initiatives.
Although there will be additional funding for modernizing schools, it is clear that there may be some risk of closures in the years ahead. Meetings will be held to discuss possible options in the next few months with an outcome expected in the summer.
Most of the funding will come through a mix of capital funds from central government and a raft of efficiency savings. The council plan to dip into their reserves in the first year and pay the money back over the following two years.
Convener Billy Petrie summed up proceedings: ‘It’s unique that a budget has gone through united. Argyll united.’
