Council budgets: Angus plans passed in record time

Angus Council’s budget and its three-year £19 million savings plan was approved in record time today.

In just half an hour, a full meeting of the authority in Forfar rubber-stamped proposals which had come before members after cross-party consideration.

Although there were rumblings of grudging acceptance from some quarters of the plans which will see everything from school clothing grants and PE provision to local paddling pools being hit there were no surprises after the council departed from previous protocol and published the budget papers days ahead of the meeting.

The authority is seeking to trim £23 million from its budget over the next three years and finance convener Alex King said the radical approach taken for 2014/15 was the first big step along that road.

In his speech (PDF version available here) he repeated the message delivered earlier this week that “the days when the public could assume that ‘the cooncil will dae it’ are past.”

For more, see Friday’s Courier.