Highland Council services could be slashed due to budget shortfall blamed on coronavirus
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The Scottish Government will not provide Highland Council with additional funds to plug a financial blackhole of up to £97 million it says has been caused by coronavirus, according to the council's budget leader.
The claims by leading councillors were made at Wednesday's meeting of the council's corporate resources committee.
Last week, the council revealed a projected deficit of between £65 million and £97 million as a result of increased costs and loss of income due to coronavirus.
Lib Dem councillor Carolyn Caddick said that, in the absence of any extra government funding, the council would have to "slash and burn" services.
Co-leader of the SNP group, Councillor Ian Cockburn, agreed there would be no new cash from the Scottish Government, but sought to point the finger of blame at Westminster.
He said: “Regarding Cllr Caddick’s point about governments, that is correct, but remember the Scottish Government only gets pocket money from Westminster and we have already heard they will not pay out to local government.
“So, what does that mean for us? I am just saying that is what we have got to look at because we have only got a certain amount of pocket money to play with up here.”
Budget leader Alister Mackinnon said: “In relation to income from the Scottish Government we have already been told that we are not going to receive any, so we will just keep lobbying – that is the fact.”
What that precisely means has not yet been defined but deputy council leader Alasdair Christie who is heading up the recovery board said it will entail a root and branch probe of every service the council has.
“I think all we could do then is prioritise, making sure that we help people, making are safety nets are in place and that we would carry out a thorough review and present options to council that they could choose and select,” he said.
“A huge part of the recovery is the financial recovery and it is quite clear that the worst case scenario came about and it was £97 million then we are going to look at every service we provide to make sure that it is efficient and is as targeted and as focussed as it can be.
“This would mean that the Scottish Government is not supporting local government and it wouldn’t be just local government in the Highlands but the whole of the country so it would be an issue facing all of the councils.
“None of us actually want it to be the £97 million and to be honest I don’t expect it to be the £97 million but if it is that high then really there has been a failure by Scottish Government and that would be on them.”
Council leader Margaret Davidson said: “I am an optimist, I am hoping that government does come and give us some money but I am not holding my breath because that would be unwise.
“There have been clear statements from Scottish Government that there won’t be any more money until there is more money from Westminster so we will direct our asks there as well, with the rest of the country.
“They have had it clearly demonstrated, what more could we do to show that frontline workings of local authorities has been absolutely essential for the country’s well-being and has been conducted well.
“Look at the borrowing the UK government has already done and they need to deal with their colleagues at the Treasury who have been immovable for years on the repayment of loan charges – that’s a lot of money – free up that for a couple of year means that we might actually be able to cope.
“It depends on the final impact and it is a huge margin and this is going to evolve over the next few months.”
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