Labour’s group leader has claimed that the Conservative and Independent budget agreed by South Ayrshire Council ‘gives with one hand and underhandly takes away with the other hand’.
Ayr Councillor Brian McGinley also said the administration should have used millions from reserves to avoid cutting services and now ‘expects uproar’ from the public.
He said: “This is the Tories’ and Independents’ first budget, and I am sorry to say that it has failed to deliver what it promises.
“We had hoped for so much better. It is a budget that promises much and truly delivers little. It gives with one hand and underhandedly takes away with the other hand.”
Cllr McGinley has claimed that in setting aside place planning capital allocations for each ward, in doing so the administration is ‘squirrelling away millions of pounds for unspecified capital projects’.
He criticised the promise by Conservative finance spokesperson, Councillor Ian Davis, to monitor the impact of cuts with a view to addressing any issues that could arise.
Cllr McGinley also claimed that the administration should have made greater use of reserves to avoid cuts.
“How naïve to think that anyone would believe that such a position is tenable,” he said.
He outlined a number of issues where, he argues, the administration had claimed to have made investment while actually reducing services.
He pointed to ‘a catalogue of claims that do not match reality’.
He said the administration claims to:
- invest in tourism and the local economy but will take £200K out of the Economy and Regeneration Team Service Review and remove £55K of support for Social Enterprises
- make sure that everyone can stay active, fit and healthy yet they cut £100K out of the Access to Leisure Scheme aimed at those most in need.
- want to give young people the best start in life but reduce the money for modern apprenticeship by £50k and they attack education budgets for young people with cuts of over £250K.
- support local communities to thrive but cut the budget available by £300K
One of the key parts of the Labour proposals was a bid to reinstate the Ayr Leisure Centre project – at a cost of £46m.
However, Cllr McGinley insisted that the administration's £5m for golf investment while people are struggling with finances was ‘fundamentally wrong’.
“I expect a huge uproar over this,” he said.
“The budget is vision light, lacks a consistent approach and will have a greater adverse impact on services than the administration will admit.
“It lacks ambition, undermines transformation commitments, and will fail to meet the promised rhetoric of the current administration because they would rather cut services than use the millions in the bank.”
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