Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Teacher jobs threatened and school crossing patrollers face axe in ‘most challenging’ Perth and Kinross budget

Young swimmers in action.
Young swimmers in action.

Scores of teaching posts could be axed as council bosses scramble to make savings of more than £40 million over the next three years.

Crossing patrollers could also be completely axed.

Perth and Kinross Council has revealed a range of money-saving options for its 2018-19 budget.

Council leader Ian Campbell, who died earlier this month while preparing for next week’s talks, warned that it would be the “most challenging” budget the local authority had ever faced.

The proposals include a range of swingeing cuts to education and environmental services.

If approved, more than 60 full-time teachers could be lost.

Around 100 more council staff could also face the chop, including dozens of street cleaning and ground maintenance staff.

The budget options have been compiled by council officers, but councillors will get a final say on what proposals go forward at their meeting on Thursday.

The local authority could save more than £1 million with a reduction of 23.3 full-time-equivalent (FTE) secondary school posts. This would mean reverting to maximum class sizes for English and Maths in S1 and S2.

Council officers warn “fewer teachers in school would mean a reduction in personal support for pupils” leading to “larger classes and potentially more discipline issues arising in and out of schools”.

The authority is also considering cutting more than 26 FTE posts in primary schools, meaning more teaching time for headteachers. This would save an extra £1.2m.

A further 12 teachers in inclusion services, who provide support for the “most vulnerable young people”, could also be cut saving £523,000.

There are also plans to do away with school crossing patrollers completely. In a report to councillors, officers point out “it is the parents’ responsibility to get their children to and from school and council staff will continue to work with parents in respect of safe school travel planning.”

Loss-making breakfast clubs are also under threat.

Another option, to save £60,000, is ending primary school swimming lessons. The proposal has already been criticised by the council’s lifelong learning convener Caroline Shiers.

The Conservative councillor said: “The provision of primary swimming lessons is not a statutory requirement on local authorities however our administration is keen to ensure that the provision of lessons is maintained.

“We have ensured that the budget for this, which is mostly made up of the costs of transporting pupils to their nearest swimming pool, is protected.”

There are also plans to increase charges for instrumental music service tuition. If approved, the charges could rocket from just over £245 to £817 per pupil, almost certainly freezing out young people from deprived areas.

Under threat recycling centres could be kept open

Council officers have recommended shutting down seven of the region’s nine recycling centres.

The move, which would close down tips at Aberfeldy, Auchterarder, Bankfoot, Blairgowrie, Crieff, Kinross and Pitlochry, would save more than £410,000 and result in the loss of around 12 jobs.

It is proposed that the sites are replaced with recycling points and only centres at Inveralmond and Friarton would survive.

However, the scheme already faces resistance from the Tory-led administration.

Councillor Colin Stewart, convener of the environment and infrastructure committee, said: “Perth and Kinross obviously covers a large rural area, and we in the administration simply felt that the closure of local recycling centres outside Perth City was an unpalatable option.

“We didn’t want to ask people to face the choice between using basic recycling points or driving to what would be the two remaining centres.”

According to council papers, an option to charge people to use the rubbish tips was also considered, but ruled out after legal advice.

Meanwhile, around £55,000 could be saved from the winter maintenance budget by axing out-of-hours treatment on footpaths.

This would mean pavements, outwith Perth city centre, would not be gritted before school times. Council officers have warned this will lead to a rise in accident rates and complaints.

There are also proposals to increase parking charges by 10% across the region, making an extra £100,000.

Council officials note “charges have not increased since 2012. This provides investment and maintenance funding for car parks.”

Elsewhere in the papers, there are proposals to raise the cost of the already controversial garden waste bin tax.

From April, residents will have to pay £25 a year to have their garden waste collected. Officers suggest raising this to £30 in 2019, saving an estimated £180,000.