AN APPENDIX to what should have been an uncontroversial report at last week’s Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee could have opened a can of worms about the imbalance of spending across the Shire – and the unequal imposition of spending cuts.
At their latest meeting, our councillors considered various matters, including a report presenting the works planned by our Landscape Services team during 2025/26 – based on the available funding and priorities.
This provoked much talk of weed spraying – members heard this is targeted at areas of high footfall such as shopping centres and roads to industrial estates; around transport hubs and routes into town centres; and at tourist areas.
The need to control troublesome graveyard rabbits was raised – and a request to control dockens in wildflower patches was made .
But a bothersome detail, appended to the report, provoked repeated questioning by our elected members.
Are we getting our fair share?
In Appendix 3 to the Landscape Services Work Programme for 2025/26, it is revealed that Kincardine and Mearns, with £104,000, is second from bottom in the budget allocation for parks and open spaces:
Mearns ward councillor Alison Evison was the first to question the disparity in spending – though she conceded there may be factors such as the size of the area and the nature of its spaces that could contribute.
Cllr Alan Turner said some of the questions he received from consituents are about the amounts other areas get. He added comment from community councils and others indicated a feeling landscape services were underfunded.
”So I find this table informative,” he said.
And Cllr Sarah Dickinson added: ”It would be helpful if we had more information going forward.”
The landscape services officer attending said the table should perhaps show more of a breakdown. He added he was usually unaware of the amounts spend on other areas but he believed the recent cuts to budget were proportionate across all the areas.
But were the cuts proportionate?
A quick look at figures revealed in last year’s report to the Garioch committee shows the following amounts.
These tables show Kincardine and Mearns have lopped their spending by £33,700 – a 24.4% cut. Garioch meanwhile has lightly pruned its costs with only £4,800 off of last year’s amount – barely 2%.
So why does Garioch require such liberal landscape services funding?
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesperson said: “Each area’s largest towns are an important factor to consider when allocating budget for parks and open spaces, and Garioch does have two of Aberdeenshire’s largest towns, both with larger populations than that of Kincardine and Mearns’s Stonehaven.
“However, Aberdeenshire Council maintains over 6,425 acres of open space, 231 cemeteries, 37 beaches, 451 play parks and skate parks and 808 acres of woodland across all areas. Officers consider the ongoing maintenance factors of these areas, which can vary considerably across the region, as well as any treatment required for invasive species and allocations for storm damage, and so on, rather than focusing on any single settlement within an area.”
