Comhairle hit with another £5.4m cut
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has been hit with another below-inflation settlement in the Scottish Budget, leaving it with the prospect of finding another £4 million worth of cuts or council tax increases.
The latest blow comes on top of an 18 per cent real terms cut in funding for the Comhairle since 2014 – by far the harshest treatment of any local authority in Scotland.
Council leader Paul Steele warned this week: “The funding that has been awarded to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is again simply not enough to deliver our services to the public at their current level”.
He said that a two per cent real terms increase in council funding announced in last week’s budget has not been reflected in the Comhairle’s settlement which has left them with just £500,000 of “uncommitted funding”.
Councillor Steele said they will now have to decide how this deficit can be addressed. “The options available to members include using the Comhairle’s limited reserves, increasing Council Tax, increasing charges and reducing service budgets”.
The total shortfall resulting from the settlement was £5.4 million but “using investment returns and loan interest the Comhairle has been able to reduce this deficit to £4.1million. Achieving this initial reduction in the deficit reflects the Comhairle’s good financial management”.
Councillor Steele warned: “The Comhairle cannot continue to cut services back year on year, and the people of the Western Isles cannot continue to be asked to pay more and receive less.
“Alongside work to progress public sector reform, the Scottish Government must take the financial position of the Comhairle seriously and demonstrate through actions, not words, that sustainable funding of local government and investing in local services is a real priority”.
The Comhairle leader has also hit back at single-issue campaigners who have launched a campaign to protect funding for An Lanntair arts centre in Stornoway.
He said: “Through consistent and disproportionate decreases in the Comhairle’s funding allocation, the Scottish Government continues to erode the Comhairle’s ability to invest in our communities.
“During this period, all non-statutory Comhairle services - including creative industries funding - have been subject to annual review as part of the Comhairle’s budget setting process. The latest settlement means that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar will again have to review non-statutory services and make difficult funding decisions”
He explained that the decision to remove creative industries from mainstream council funding was taken two years ago and since then the Comhairle has continued to support arts organisations, including An Lanntair, through “transitional funding” drawn from Crown Estate money.
“This phased exit strategy was put in place to help these organisations manage the transition to reduced support from the local authority. The close of this financial year will see the conclusion of transitional arrangements for circa £110k per year of revenue funding for the creative and cultural industries in the Outer Hebrides."
Councillor Steele stressed: “The Comhairle has engaged with affected organisations from the outset to ensure awareness of the funding position and the phased exit strategy. The Comhairle recognises the important role and provision of arts organisations and continues to emphasise this in discussions with funders such as Creative Scotland."
The Western Isles MSP, Alasdair Allan, posted that An Lanntair’s position was “very concerning” and claimed that “the Scottish Government via Creative Scotland” had provided it with funding while “expected arts and culture cuts from CNES for this year's budget will leave it worse off”.
However, his Labour opponent for May’s election, Donald Mackinnon, commented: “This is the stark reality of SNP cuts to council funding. Over the past 12 years the SNP have cut a cumulative total of £251.2 million from the Comhairle budget representing a budget reduction of 18 per cent. Why has our MSP let his party get us into this mess? We can’t carry on like this or there will be nothing left to cut”.
ANOTHER organisation facing the implications of cuts is Stornoway Historical Society. Headquartered in Stornoway Town Hall, the society says it is in discussion with members and officials of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar regarding continued occupancy of the premises if support is withdrawn.
In a statement, the society said: “The proposed cuts will affect far more than archives, lectures, talks and exhibitions. They will impact on education, language, health and wellbeing, local jobs, economic development, and community life across the Western Isles.
“We need your support, and we invite our members to take part in the current CnES budget survey to highlight the problems which will result from these cuts, if they are implemented. A small amount of funding goes a long way. Without continued financial support, volunteers will find it difficult, if not impossible, to continue the delivery of Stornoway Historical Society's activities and services”.
(See An Lanntair fury, page 4)