Councillors accused of
‘dodging difficult decisions’ in election run-up
Western Isles SNP councillor, Donald Manford responded to criticism of his SNP group’s budgetary proposals last month by accusing his detractors of not having the political courage to ‘accept responsibility for a properly planned future’ by paring down the number of senior employees in the council.
‘On the very day that the Comhairle voted to cut services to some of the most vulnerable people in the Western Isles, Clackmannan Council, Scotland’s smallest mainland local authority, were interviewing to fill six Head of Service posts having reduced the number of senior officials at this level from eleven to six,’ he said. ‘The Comhairle has over twenty’ he pointed out, while also highlighting that ‘Clackmannan have three Directors while the Comhairle has five.’
‘Argyle, the Local Authority next door to us, from April will reduce to three Directors and twelve Heads of Service, down from fifteen.
‘Shetland Council, an islands authority similar to the Comhairle, has two Directors and fourteen Heads of Service.
‘Why does the Comhairle need five Directors and over twenty Heads of Service? That is the question Angus MacCormack, Donald John Macsween and their Labour party cohorts must answer. Their claims that the organization is fit-for-purpose while services to the elderly are being cut are simply not good enough.
‘There are so many senior officers because the politicians are not prepared to show the political leadership needed to protect frontline services at a time of budget cuts. Instead of considering options and giving officers time to implement the inevitable changes the Comhairle have put-off the inevitable. This makes future change more difficult, creates uncertainty and puts more pressure on hard working staff.
‘We did not have months of budget planning as Angus has suggested. There were months of officer led budget cuts, which inevitably protected senior officers and cut frontline services because Donald John and his team were not willing to accept the political responsibility for any long term planning which, they feared, could be used against the Labour party in the run-in to a general election, resulting in the most vulnerable paying the price.
‘Everyone knows that there will need to be significant reductions in public expenditure over the next three years and beyond. What is welcome and recognition of the seriousness of the situation, is that Councillors and Chief Officers have agreed to a pay freeze. Like everywhere else the people of the Western Isles will pay for the economic mess Labour have put us in, but they must not be made to pay twice over because of a failure to strategically plan our way through this.
‘The Comhairle, must consult with communities over reductions in services and discuss options openly and transparently with staff and partners. Planned reductions over a three year period would protect staff jobs and allow hard working families to look to the future with confidence, whereas last minute cuts will devastate employees and lead to a climate of mistrust.
‘We need everyone in the Comhairle and in our communities to accept responsibility for a properly planned future. We need political leadership and that is what Angus and Donald John will not give us because they need to protect the political party that got us into this mess in the first place.’
Comments on this entry are closed.