Ward 7 –Cromarty Firth Ward Forum
Meeting held on Thursday 17th June 2010
in the Ardross Community Hall, Ardross

Agenda

Present:

Cllr Carolyn Wilson (Chair)
Cllr Michael Finlayson
Cllr Martin Rattray
Cllr Maxine Smith
Cllr Sandy Park, Convener of the Highland Council
Cllr Dr David Alston, Budget Leader
Alistair Dodds, Chief Executive
Alan Geddes, Depute Chief Executive & Director of Finance
Hugh Fraser, Director of Education, Culture & Sport
Ian Hargrave, Corporate Manager, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Sylvia Tarrant, Public Relations Officer
Helen Ross, Ward Manager Cromarty Firth Ward
1 Member of Press
200 members of the public (approx 80 attended for the first part of the meeting only leaving after the petitions had been handed in, with approx. 120 staying for the full meeting.

1. Welcome and Introductions

Cllr Wilson welcomed everyone to the Forum and introduced those present.

2. Highland Council Budget Consultation

Cllr Park explained that the purpose of the meeting was to consult the public over the Highland Council Budget in the context of a need to make savings of £36 million in the coming years. The aim was to gather feedback from the local community on what is important to them and where they thought the Council could make savings. It is important to take local views on board as people in communities see what is happening every day.
Cllr Park gave some brief background information, noting that the Council employs over 12,000 staff and also spends £120million in over 1200 business across the Highlands so puts a significant amount into the economy of local communities.

3. 3 petitions were handed to Cllr Park:

Mrs Eleanor Grant handed over a petition collected in support of keeping Alness Swimming Pool open which she noted had been signed by over 2700 people. A short period of discussion followed in which the following views were expressed

There are health and safty benefits in learning to swim and it is important to teach swimming in a safe environment
Swimming has an important role in the aim of making Scotland more active
The pool is not open enough hours
Local people raised money to make the pool longer than was originally planned, this makes it the correct size for a training pool and it would be wrong to close it
Its usage rate is approx 34,000 per year and more children use the Alness pool than other pools

A second petition in support of youth work and The Place Youth Club was then handed to Cllr Sandy Park by Nicole Murphy. Nicole noted that there had been a lot of support expressed for youth work on a facebook page set up. She said she and others felt youth work and The Place provided valuable support and advice to young people, and helped to reduce crime on the streets. Nicole recognised the need to make savings but felt savings could be better made by reducing funding to Youth Voice which she felt did not reflect or represent young people in Alness. Members of the Blackrock Rovers Football Club were also present to support youth work.

Cllr Maxine Smith then handed in a petition in support of Invergordon Library, noting that she had had phone calls from many people asking her to raise a petition and noting that many people, including elderly people, used and valued the library.

Cllr Park thanked those who had attended to support these petitions. At this point a number of those who had attended in relations to petitions left the meeting.

4. Presentations

Alan Geddes gave a presentation explaining the history of public sector spending; the UK budget context and the unprecedented situation the public sector and the Highland Council were in. He warned that the squeeze on public sector spending caused by the economic recession and all the problems in the banking system could last for 10 years or more.
Mr Geddes noted that Budget planning has shown a budget gap estimated at £59million over 3 years 2010/11 – 2012/13. £23million of savings have already been agreed towards covering this but £36million still needs to be saved.
Cllr Alston then made a short presentation. He noted that the consultation meetings held so far had been very helpful. He recognised that the time ahead was likely to be very difficult and would require hard decisions given the need for savings. Although £36m had to be saved, no decisions had been taken by the Council at this time. Cllr Alston explained how various Council services had been asked to identify where possible savings could be made and £42million worth of suggestions had been made. These were the suggestions that were being put forward as part of this consultation.This consultation process will continue all over the Highlands until the end of June with all proposals then being gathered together for consideration later in the year and decisions then being made by Councillors.

5. Discussion groups considered the key budget questions:

         - How can we use our community facilities differently?
         - How can we run services differently?
         - How can individuals and communities take more responsibility for
           doing things?
         - How can we keep our staff and borrowing costs down?

6. Open Session for Questions/Opinions

Q. Given the need for savings how come the Council spent so much money on Inverness Street Art?
A. This was a one off payment from the Inverness Common Good Fund, not Council resources.

Q. Has the Council thought about the possibility of making savings by reducing the number of Councillors?
A. This is something which is in the hands of the Scottish Government, not in the Council’s control.

Q. Is it true that the Council is considering amalgamating Alness and Invergordon Academies?
A. The Council is looking at the number of schools overall and a paper will be prepared for the Education, Culture and Sport Committee.

Q. Could the closure of 1 primary in Alness and 1 in Invergordon be made to make the savings required?
A. Local school provision is a part of the consultation but a full review needs to be done.

Q. Why is the Council asking the public to come up with savings – is this not the job if the Council? Asking the public effectively puts Alness against Invergordon etc.
A. The Council has come up with options for savings but feels it is right to tell the public what is being considered and to consult. This is surely better as it means difficult issues can be flagged up and discussed before the decisions are taken rather than simply going ahead, and people then protesting when it is too late to change anything. This has allowed people to let the Council know what they care about the most and also to put forward suggestions and ideas. But the Council will be responsible for making the required decisions at the end of the process - the buck does stop with the Council.

Q. Who are the Citizen’s panel?
A. The Citizens’ Panel is made up of a representative sample of residents who have agreed to participate in consultation activity. Panel members are asked to complete postal, on-line or telephone surveys on an ongoing basis.

Q. The Fostering and Adoption service received a top rating recently when it was inspected- it doesn’t seem sensible to make savings from a service that is performing so well. Why savings can’t be made by bringing the 35 children currently placed out of Highland back into Highland – it costs approx £10,000 per child per year to place them out of Highland so this would be a saving approximately £350, 000.
A. The Council is proud of the Fostering and Adoption Service and the high rating it has achieved. However there may still be areas where reductions can be made. It is also currently necessary to place some children out of Highland as we don’t have sufficient specialist services. We do however recognise that it is better to avoid out of Highland placements wherever possible, and the capital costs of providing in-Highland solutions are being considered.

Q. Is the current difficult situation not just because of the banks but also the result of political actions and decisions resulting in increasingly deregulated banks?
A. There is an issue around banks and deregulation. The Council has to respond to the position we are in.

Q. Will the Chief Executive take a pay cut of, for example, 30%?
A. The pay of Chief Executives is negotiated at a national level, not locally. If the pay of senior managers was simply reduced locally all that would be likely to happen is that quality staff would leave the Council and the service would deteriorate.

Q. How was the ½ hour travel time to pools calculated? Is travel time not the wrong criteria to use, should it not be based on levels of deprivation rather than distance as in areas of deprivation levels of car ownership are likely to be lower and people less able to afford bus fares etc?
A. The travel time criteria used is based on travel by bus or car. The view being put forward will be considered – the aim of this meeting is to get people’s ideas and to look at them.

Opinion: If the community does take on the provision of services such as lunch clubs etc community transport will be even more critical – in the context the proposed reduction to the funding of community transport is very worrying.
Opinion: We don’t want to end up with winners and losers, we want any cuts to be spread evenly across Highland.