THE full Aberdeenshire Council meets tomorrow to consider a budget bringing further cuts to a range of services including the cleaning of our public toilets.
The numbers are huge – over the next year over £860 million is needed to support priority services. But no punches are pulled in a report detailing the pressures placed on the Council’s day-to-day spending.
It states: ”The 2026/27 revenue budget has been developed against a backdrop of sustained inflationary pressures, confirmed pay awards, and continued growth in demand-led services, particularly within health and social care.”
And to balance the books, ‘disinvestments’ in services totalling £9.254 million have been identified in appendix 7 to the report. These include:
- Primary and secondary schools will see the routine maintenance of their grounds reduced – £300,000
- Head teachers will have to choose between librarians and ‘efficiency requirements’ – £160,000
- school kitchens will be converted to serveries – along with ‘dynamic pricing’ to generate income – £132,000
- changes to concessionary discount rates at sports venues – £175,000
- charging those who can afford to contribute for disabled adaptations such as grab rails – £150,000
- turning off the lights on private roads – £5,000
- asking volunteers to compensate for a £500,000 pruning of landscape services
And for all those local clubs, groups and societies enjoying a friendly, local funding source:
”Area top-up grants will be reduced by 50%, resulting in a lower level of discretionary funding available to area committees.” – £36,000 per area
Who needs a clean loo?
A million pounds needs to be saved in the Council’s purchasing department. Fair enough. But perhaps the greatest indignity is the fact we can no longer afford to keep our public toilets as clean as they have been – a reduction in cleaning frequency is on the cards to save £154,000.
Aberdeenshire Council meets tomorrow at Woodhill House at 10.15am. The meeting is open to the public and can be viewed online.