Council budgets: Fife toilets facing the axe to save £200,000
Every public toilet in Fife — with the exception of St Andrews Church Square and automatic conveniences — could be closed in an effort to save Fife Council £200,000 a year.
- By Craig Smith
- Published in the Courier : 10.02.12
- Published online : 10.02.12 @ 02.40pm
That was one of the more controversial elements as Fife councillors crossed swords on Thursday to set out spending plans for a difficult year ahead.
Proposals which will see £825 million invested in services over the next year were rubber-stamped, while council tax will be frozen for the fifth consecutive year.
An extra £4.5 million will be invested in social work services to help care for the elderly, vulnerable adults and children; an additional £9 million set aside to help improve roads over the next five years; and almost £3 million invested into ways of helping children, families and the elderly deal with potential problems through early intervention.
But while Fife's SNP-Lib Dem administration said the budget would build a ''firm foundation'' for Fife's future, Labour councillors criticised the administration for putting ''narrow party interests'' above Fifers and called for a zero-based approach to budgeting.
A savings package of £19 million was also approved to help meet the estimated £80 million funding gap identified in the region's budgets between now and 2015.
Council leader Peter Grant said sound financial planning had put Fife in good shape to tackle the challenges to come.
He said: ''The move to trust status for our libraries and museums, reviewing how we can care for our elderly people in their own homes, supporting our employees in new ways of working are all examples of how the council is becoming more efficient, and changing how we provide services.
''We have taken some difficult decisions today including getting stricter on the amount of funding we give to other organisations and increasing some charges for services in line with inflation.''
There will be no increase in charges for school meals, school milk, breakfast clubs, home care or community alarm services.
However, what the savings proposals outlined will mean in practice are likely to emerge over the coming days, with one of the more contentious likely to be the deletion of 10 full-time equivalent vacant posts from Fife Fire and Rescue Service, saving £300,000 a year.
The council says the service will have at least the same number of firefighters as they have at present due to the management of shift patterns and holidays, although Labour has questioned the move.
Almost £2.3m will also be saved by introducing new shift patterns for refuse collection, while the closure of all public toilets with the exception of St Andrews Church Square and automatic conveniences could also prove controversial, with the council saying it can save £200,000 a year by encouraging local businesses to sign up to the Comfort Break scheme.
Labour leader Alex Rowley suggested the administration had used its position to continuously reject his party's proposals and vowed to scrutinise every service's budget closely within five months of taking office if they win May's elections.
He said: ''This administration is bereft of political vision: Fife Labour will ensure that our council always argues for a fair deal for Fife.''
The exchange sparked the usual claim and counter claim from political groups, with SNP councillor Gerry McMullan suggesting Labour's budget was ''weak on detail, not clear and not decisive.''
Labour's David Ross called the budget ''self-satisfying and complacent'', while colleague Mark Hood criticised the administration for its ''salami slicing'' approach.
''We need to look at fundamental restructure of the council's cost base and that's something this administration has shirked,'' he said.
SNP councillor Alice McGarry said Labour was ''effectively asking the electorate to vote for a pig in a poke'', while colleague John Beare added: ''Ed Miliband said it is not about the politics of envy. ''
But Labour's Mike Rumney said the administration had been ''all smoke and mirrors'', adding: ''We will take this budget away, we will scrutinise it and when we regain control we will come back with detailed, costed proposals which are fair for Fifers.''
Tory Dave Dempsey tabled ''prudent and radical'' budget proposals which were voted down, but he warned: ''Some of the savings made will have local consequences and it's in the interests of the council that we meet these where they arise.''
Rent rate surprise
The administration sprung something of a surprise in relation to the council's housing budget — imposing a lower-than-anticipated increase on rents.
Housing officials had recommended an increase of 6.6% this year but a rise of just 4.6% was approved for 2012/13 after a motion to do so was made by the administration.
Rents and service charges for garage sites, laundrettes, caretaking, heating, garden care and hostels will also go up by 4.6%, although rents for lockup garages will remain at present levels.
Councillor Brian Goodall commented: "It's vital that we take full account of the circumstances in our communities and I believe our motion does that."
Labour councillors supported the lower than inflation rise, although they spoke out against plans to withdraw the £36,000 Housing Initiatives Budget (HIB) which is typically used to fund smaller projects — one of several measures approved that aims to save £609,000 in 2012/13.
Labour councillor David Ross acknowledged the HIB was small but wished to see it retained, although Mr Goodall rejected the call — noting the mixed-tenure nature of many housing areas in Fife.
03.06pm - 10.02.2012 Callum - Kirkcaldy, United Kingdom Report This
Good to see the council taking tough decisions, but still investing in vital services. Labour have no credibility, they left us in a mess after decades in charge in Fife, much like they did to the whole country!
03.08pm - 10.02.2012 Mr Pooh - St Andrews, United Kingdom Report This
Good. Why should we have to pay taxes to maintain them only to pay again to use them. And I don't understand how they use £200,000 on toilets which are scarcely new. Waste of money.
09.47pm - 10.02.2012 me - Glenrothes, Fife Report This
You've never been a pregnant woman in Ravenscraig park have you?? We'll all be getting put on the sex offenders register for peeing behind bushes!!
05.28am - 11.02.2012 R.D.Robertson - Freuchie, Scotland Report This
I bet the 'cooncil' could come up with £200k of savings if they reduced the salaries of upper and middle management by say 10%. Y'know more in the direction of the wage of the majority of the electorate. Or slimmed the expenses budget. No more taxis, posh lunches, team building nonsense etc
09.39am - 11.02.2012 Keith - Dalgety Bay, UK Report This
RD Robertson - you're behind the times, I'm afraid. The "posh lunches" went years ago, taxis aren't used unless there's no alternative, and team building "nonsense" only used where it can have a demonstrable effect. You're clearly still thinking of how it was under Labour for so many years..........
10.29am - 11.02.2012 Thornindaside - perth, scotland Report This
@eve I don't suppose they've thought of parents in the midst of toilet training their infants either given that they want to encourage families into local parks.Pity the poor gardeners/passerbys when the smell in the undergrowth is heated up in the summer sun Yeurg.
01.42pm - 11.02.2012 BigBrother - Airstrip One, 1984 Report This
This is ridiculous, what about the rights of the disabled (something this country signed up to at the UN) Again those with continence issues are deprived of independent living. Try a 5% paycut across the board, I'm sure that would save more than £200,000
09.01pm - 11.02.2012 Observor - cupar, United Kingdom Report This
Our park has toilets which they closed and then opened a new one in the carpark with a full time attendant. It would have been just as easy to open the county building up to the public saving the thousands needed to build the new facility and the need to employ 2 people to man it.
12.44pm - 17.02.2012 Sally - Dundee, Scotland Report This
why? just leave them. I was desperate for the loo in dundee, went into a local 24 bakery and was told i couldnt use the loos, thankfully reached them in time but just leave them, what if someone has bladder or bowel problems? it just means more stress for them!
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