View Full Version : Highland Council Cost Cutting proposals
On Thurs 11th Feb Highland Council will be holding a 'special' meeting to agree to the proposals for cost cutting in Highlands.
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/committees/thehighlandcouncil/2010-02-11-hc-ag.htm
If you read through Booklet C on this page you'll find the detailed proposals for the cuts including page 25:
It is proposed to remove the budget for the now empty Wick Academy Swimming and to close the pool tanks at, Lybster Primary School and Brora Primary. Alternative arrangements will be made to transport school pupils for school swimming and wherever possible, the small number of community groups affected will be offered space at other facilities.
And many other important services. Please read through the proposals and let your local councillors know how you feel. Time is of the essence though as this meeting is Thursday 11th Feb AM.
The Lybster community has a petition to try to save the swimming pool - please, please, if you can, sign up and let Highland Council know that removing important community facilities without consultation is not the way a fair society should operate.
Petition here:
http://petitions.tigweb.org/lybsterpool
Further information about Lybster Swimming pool here:
http://www.lybster.org.uk/sos.htm
Alice in Blunderland
09-Feb-10, 22:21
Times are indeed getting harder for HC this will only be the start of many more cuts :eek:
yet again the council is hitting our children in lybster.first the play group ,which was a waste of time as ,yes,more children needed school places.and now our children will not be allowed to learn to swim from p2 age instead they will travel around on a bus for most of the am or pm.why are they hitting areas that are so important to a community???surely cost cutting could be directed at some peoples expenses and not pick on our children.we could loose certain people from the council and with these savings run both brora and lybster for years to come!!!yes i am mad because no notice is give and it is a closed meeting,in secret in inverness.this smacks of what happened in brora and lybster playgroups.if the council was not afraid of opposition from a community would it not allow us to speak and both be heard and listened to.let us have a voice and save things that are dear to our children!rant over(for the mo)
achingale
10-Feb-10, 13:45
Times are indeed getting harder for HC this will only be the start of many more cuts :eek:
I agree with you. I also think locals should be consulted on any cuts that affects them directly, such as the swimming pool in Lybster. After all, we all pay council tax so why should we not have our say?
The Parent Council for Lybster Primary School are currently looking into the options to help prevent the closure of the pool.
Initially this includes a petition to prevent the closure but also the option of funding from elsewhere.
This is obviously just one of many cuts but we would welcome any support for this one in particular. The school has a petition both there and if you can please go along and sign it.
Additionally we are organising an online e petition to make it easier for people to make there views known.
Further information as and when we have it can be found here:
http://www.lybster.org.uk/sos.htm
Mod's Any chance we can make this a sticky please?
Phill can you let us know when the online petition is up and running and perhaps post a link.
Phill can you let us know when the online petition is up and running and perhaps post a link.
Get used it guys. Over the next few days all the authorities in Scotland will be setting budgets with deep cuts. Meaning plenty of service reductions and redundancies.
Just need to decide what are the lesser evils to loose.
As soon as we have the e petition up the link will be posted.
I don't want this thread to be a discussion, maybe start another for that.
But yes this is just the start and there are more cuts to come, but should we all just lie back and watch it happen. Maybe with enough noise the government can start reclaiming the cash back from the banks and start bailing out the public services instead.
There are other avenues being investigated as to source funding in this particular case but any support is welcome.
thursachick
10-Feb-10, 19:38
This was a point I tried to make earlier on the forum - we don't seem to be aware of what the Council wish to cut until the councillors have a meeting in secret and its all decided - then the public can do nothing about it. Anyone using a Council service needs to ask now whether their service will be cut in anyway - I understand the Council ask staff not to discuss cuts with service users - this is a ridiculous situation. How can the public contribute meaningfully to any debate if we don't know what the proposed cuts are?(Sorry ended up as a rant!)
Petition for the support of Lybster Swimming pool is here:
http://petitions.tigweb.org/lybsterpool
Please show your support of this facility in our goal to prevent closure and obtain more time from the council to see if alternative funding can be found.
cuddlepop
11-Feb-10, 17:54
Its not just your swimming pool your going to lose.
It appears that the subsidy the old folks get to run their lunch club will be removed and minibus provision restricted or removed.
All these cuts were known about long before the agenda was published that to me reaks of cowardice.:~(
Mr P Cannop
11-Feb-10, 18:00
did any one go to this meeting in inverness today ??
cuddlepop
11-Feb-10, 18:01
did any one go to this meeting in inverness today ??
It was bad eneogh reading the reports never mind watching the "pantomine";)
We know there are many, many cuts and unfortunately some are inevitable.
But do we all just sit back and let them get on with it or try and fight our corner.
If enough people make enough of a noise then maybe the combined governments can start reclaiming the money from the bankers bonuses' and put it back where it's needed.
http://petitions.tigweb.org/lybsterpool
Alice in Blunderland
11-Feb-10, 19:02
I see the cuts have been approved at todays meeting.
It looks as though you are losing your pool in Lybster.
I see the cuts have been approved at todays meeting.
It looks as though you are losing your pool in Lybster.
surprise surprise!
Petitions are laughed at by the powers that be, the only thing they will understand is if you withold council tax on mass in protest demanding to be at least included in the decisions that effect us all. the trouble with these authorities is the "WE KNOW BEST ATTITUDE". And what is with all this secret meetings? what is it they are hiding? If you question authotities over the fact that the UK has more CCTV than any other country they will simply say " if you have nothing to hide why worry who's watching?" well surely what is good for the goose etc.
cuddlepop
12-Feb-10, 09:51
voluntary sector have been given fourteen months "to come to terms" with cuts to their funding .
Day care is under review.
Lanuage translators are being withdrawen
Teaching assistants contracts will not be renew
ed or vacant positions not filled
this is the beginning of the end of some of our voluntary organisation.:~(
I honestly dont think petitions will make any differnce"its a done deal with worse to come":~(
Green_not_greed
12-Feb-10, 13:25
From what I've seen it appears that the Gaelic twinning of signs etc is still to go ahead. Obviously far more important that children's needs and older person's food. This isn't a "local government" - its a bunch of unelected amateurs who haven't a clue how to manage anything.
And that's not a go at our councillors. Its a go at the unelected Highland Council officials who give our councillors little leeway in having a say on anything. If they had voted against them they would have been made scapegoats.
cuddlepop
12-Feb-10, 14:04
From what I've seen it appears that the Gaelic twinning of signs etc is still to go ahead. Obviously far more important that children's needs and older person's food. This isn't a "local government" - its a bunch of unelected amateurs who haven't a clue how to manage anything.
And that's not a go at our councillors. Its a go at the unelected Highland Council officials who give our councillors little leeway in having a say on anything. If they had voted against them they would have been made scapegoats.
Local councillors spoke out in Lochaber about the freeze on the new builds for the elderly and they were cast out by their own party...the independents,all because they spoke out for their constituants.
I will blame the councillors because they.re letting HC call the shots with no regard to local need.......are they brainwshed.:confused
Green_not_greed
12-Feb-10, 16:22
Local councillors spoke out in Lochaber about the freeze on the new builds for the elderly and they were cast out by their own party...the independents,all because they spoke out for their constituants.
I will blame the councillors because they.re letting HC call the shots with no regard to local need.......are they brainwshed.:confused
So whats the point in electing councillors who are effectively gagged or can't represent their constituents? Should councillors all be independent - i.e. with no party affiliations?
If you want someone to blame, start with the bankers.
The whole mess started with the Conservative in the 80's ,they sold off everything and de-regulated the banks ...Put the blame were it should lay .
If your stuck ask the Councillors on the CHaP board too put back the £16 MILLION they spent to keep themselves in a job ...
fingalmacool
12-Feb-10, 22:19
Why do you think they have put wheels on your bin, SO YOU CAN PULL IT TO THE DUMP!
Home Care-going going, ? that's why it's called home care, coz you have to look after yourself at home! (probably be out to tender)
How long to you think it will take the council to fix the roads, we will all have no windscreens by the time it's done,(auto glass guy is flat out in caithness (I know coz I'm waiting) still look at the bright side it's keeping him in work.
Back to bins, I will take a punt and say that in the very near future you will have more boxes to fill with recyclable crap than you can shake a stick at, which will lead to probably one pickup a fortnight or maybe worse.
As I said before on many occasions, Highland Council will slowly strangle services until punters stop using them just like the NHS, and then say it's not viable because nobody is using them, so shut it down.
So is it the bankers fault, that the council has got so fat and inoperable, I'm not sure, it had to come so brace yourselves:confused
OK, so we heard what we expected.
BUT, we are still looking at the options for saving this pool i.e. funding from elsewhere, and we still need you to show your support with our petition:
http://petitions.tigweb.org/lybsterpool
Yes there are far deeper cuts to come, this we all know.
Here's a thought, in the grand scheme of things knowing what the knock-on effects of a raft of cuts will be (jobs, services, jobs, education, jobs, health etc.) and instead of the stupid political deals that have been made with council tax freezes, what about a rise?
Demand a 1 - 3% rise in council tax! Crazy I know but think it through, we're all gonna lose out otherwise. Whose jobs are you going to see cut? The teachers and staff at your kids school, the refuse collectors. The maintenance and road repairs.Home helps, transport for the needy. The list goes on and on.
Think about it.
cuddlepop
15-Feb-10, 18:01
So whats the point in electing councillors who are effectively gagged or can't represent their constituents? Should councillors all be independent - i.e. with no party affiliations?
This gets complicated and I still dont understand this but in principal even if you are an independent councillor you have to sign a "code of conduct", or what ever its called, that all independent councillors must adhere to or be excluded from the independent "party".:confused
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