Black Isle councillor's cash cuts bid fails
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A BID to give voluntary organisations receiving council grants at least one year's notice of funding cuts has been defeated.
Highland Council Liberal Democrat leader David Alston, who represents the Black Isle, called for a year of grace to be embedded in council policy, saying it was the fairest way to work with partners.
He told a meeting of the council: "This is a simple motion about principle, and I do believe that if you are voting against it you are voting against the voluntary sector."
Grant reductions to voluntary organisations running culture, leisure and learning services, with the exception of Eden Court, High Life Highland and Inverness Leisure, were agreed in December when the council sliced more than £15 million from its budget.
The council agreed to a five per cent reduction in grants to those groups in 2016/17 in order to save £63,000.
It was also agreed that a further 45 per cent would be reduced from the total budget for voluntary groups in 2017/18 to save a further £573,000.
At the same time, the council launched a review of budget and policy and the results have not yet been published.
Graham Ross, Independent councillor for Inverness West, urged members not to support the Liberal Democrat motion, saying it would not be prudent to give this pledge until the results of the review were known.
He said: "The indications in terms of grant aid have already been given to these groups for the next two years."
But Councillor Alston insisted that the 45 per cent cut was a cut to the total pot and that individual organisations therefore had no knowledge of what it would mean for their budgets.
He said: "That statement was incorrect. Voluntary sector organisations have not been given notice of their grants."
Convener and fellow Black Isle councillor Isobel McCallum took the issue to a vote, and members voted 61-13 in favour of Councillor Ross's counter-motion.
