People across South Lanarkshire are being invited to take part in a hard-hitting consultation on council finances as the local authority steps up work on its Budget for next year.
South Lanarkshire Council faces a budget gap of £29 million
Due to rocketing costs and inadequate government funding, South Lanarkshire Council this year faces a budget gap of £29 million and current projections for 2025-26 predict a further shortfall of £41 million. This follows a period of austerity and under-funding in local government, in which South Lanarkshire Council reports it has already cut £140 million.
The Labour-led Administration are urging the public to take part in a consultation exercise to identify the areas people believe the Council should do the most to protect. They are also urging the public to lobby MSPs for fair funding for councils, arguing that Scotland’s councils have been hit harder than the rest of Scotland’s public sector in successive Scottish Budgets.
Councils across Scotland are battling with the twin terrors of rampant inflation and sustained government funding cuts.
Council Leader Joe Fagan said:
Councils across Scotland are battling with the twin terrors of rampant inflation and sustained government funding cuts. We need to have a frank conversation with the community about how South Lanarkshire Council balances its budget when confronted with unprecedented challenges.
This is a hard-hitting consultation for a reason. There is no positive spin that can be put on the scale of the council funding crisis in Scotland today.
Leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Joe Fagan
My message to the public is simple. The Scottish Government have cut funding to your Council and so your Council has to cut local services. Help us decide which services the Council should do most to protect.
A wave of austerity like nothing we have seen before is about to sweep across the town halls and council chambers of Scotland, unless the SNP do the right thing and restore the council budgets they have destroyed.
Needless to say, any new Council Tax freeze the government adopt will have to be fully funded, with councils fully compensated, or it will exacerbate the budget crisis.
In addition to taking part in this consultation, I would strongly encourage the public to lobby their MSPs to reverse the funding cuts destroying local services.
You can take part in the consultation online at www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/budget-consultation, by emailing savings@southlanarkshire.gov.uk or posting responses to Budget Consultation, Floor 4, South Lanarkshire Council, Almada Street, Hamilton ML3 0AA.
18th October 2023
