COUNCIL officials turned down calls for increased funding for leisure services in Argyll and Bute, an official has claimed.
Alex Edmonstone, commercial services manager with liveArgyll, also appealed for the public to submit responses to a consultation on the services it provides in the area.
Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond community planning group heard how funding from the authority to support liveArgyll has dropped by 20 per cent since it was launched in 2017.
The authority responded that it is facing a multi-million-pound budget gap, with most of its budget funding education and social work services across the area.
The consultation has been set up as part of setting the council’s budget, which will be done at a full meeting on Wednesday, February 25. The community planning group met on Monday, February 2.
Mr Edmonstone told the meeting: “We are in our eighth or ninth year of delivery, and business costs have gone from £6.2 million to £7.5 million.
“We have also had a reduction in our service payment from the council, which has gone from £4m to £3.2m. That is a gap we have managed through increased income.
“In 2018/19, the service payment was 62 per cent of our income; now it is 45 per cent, so we have worked hard to increase our income so that we can provide the services we are providing.
“We produce a business plan every year to go to the council, which says ‘these are the services you have asked us to deliver, this is how much they will cost’.
“That was submitted in November and we requested an additional level of funding to deliver services as they are. Unfortunately, that was not approved.
“While no decisions have been made, we have been asked to work with them to undertake their budget-setting exercise, specifically for libraries, learning halls and leisure facilities, and that is where the consultation started.
“We are engaging with key stakeholders, businesses, governing bodies, MPs and MSPs, but are keen to get views from everybody.
“We are seeking views in terms of the impact across services on people’s physical and mental wellbeing, and asking if these services were to be discontinued, how that would affect communities.
“All the information we can provide will help us with the case for the funding required to deliver services.”
Mr Edmonstone added: “The consultation exercise will allow us to undertake impact assessments, which allow us to say to the council that if services were affected, it would affect these groups in the community.
“We have already had significant numbers of responses to the online survey, around 4,500, without having counted the paper copies yet.
“Without pre-empting the outcome, I would say the key messages are about the positive impact services are having on communities, so please get the information in.”
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesperson said: “We understand that liveArgyll wants more funding. Everyone does.
“Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that the council is facing yet another multi-million-pound gap in its funding next year. Most of the council’s budget funds education and social work services across the area. We must teach our young people and look after our elderly and vulnerable residents.
“At the same time the council budget must also provide a huge range of other services that communities use every day, such as roads, waste, housing and planning services, as well as ferry and air transport services.
“CoSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities), which campaigns for local government funding on behalf of councils, makes the point, among others, that the national funding settlement for Scotland’s councils ‘does not end the continuing cuts to our non-statutory services, particularly in culture and leisure’.
“Both the council and liveArgyll are committed to delivering services that support health, wellbeing, learning, and community life across the region.
“At the same time the council’s focus has to be wider, it has to be on doing all possible to serve all needs across our communities.”
The liveArgyll consultation can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BQJB7LL
