New council head promises to listen to public
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TAXPAYERS will have more of a say on how their money is spent, the new chief executive of Highland Council has vowed.
Donna Manson pledged her top priority was to listen to the public, during her first media interview since taking over from Steve Barron, who retired last week.
Local communities are at the heart of her vision for an ambitious programme of ongoing region-wide "engagement" that is set to occupy four months each year – with the first round starting this week.
It comes as the council is planning for a potential budget gap of £66.7 million over the next three years – although this could be anything from £34.1 million to £124.9 million.
Consultations will be used to drive policy but follow-up sessions will explain to the public why an idea or project had to be rejected.
Mrs Manson said: "The most important thing for me is to get out there and listen to our staff. We have a whole plan of engagement throughout the year that will do that, starting later this week.
"And at the same time to listen to the public and to hear the views of what the council is doing really well, what everyone believes the council could be doing better in terms of delivering services and the important part of that is that we go across the Highlands to hear those views.
"The first thing is about listening to people, the second most important thing is about going back and saying to people ‘you said and we will’ or ‘we are not able to because’."
The council is due to start a "public budget engagement process" tomorrow, designed to help the local authority make decisions to balance its books.
"It is really important that we listen throughout the month of November," Mrs Manson said. "Then we will go back and give feedback on what the suggestions are."
Mrs Manson was upbeat about the local authority’s financial woes that have seen it stumble from one unpopular cutback to another over several months amid a flurry of resignation threats from within the administration.
"I am quite positive about our budget situation here in the Highlands – I think we are in a fair place," she said. "There are places where we will be able to make efficiencies and our officer team and our members are working on that all the time, day-in, day-out behind the scenes."
However, Mrs Manson did accept that "there are some challenging areas in there, such as what our priorities for resource and for spend are, and I think it is very important to take a transparent approach so that when we do take decisions in February [when the council budget is decided] we can actually evidence it comes after listening to people."
One of the answers to those challenges, according to the chief executive, is to rely on the "many talented staff who believe in the values of public service and that we are here to make a difference" and to capitalise on an upsurge in community involvement.
"I genuinely believe that many, many people that I have been speaking to over the last few months in different parts of the Highlands have really good ideas," she said. "They see where the council can become more efficient.
"But equally so, I think that people can be more understanding of the challenges that we face."
The local authority has made £102.1 million of savings since 2013 and raised council tax by three per cent in each of the last two years.
Budget leader Alister Mackinnon said: "We have to do more with less money and our costs are rising for things like fuel, pay and cost of living.
"We are working with services to produce comprehensive information on our current spending profiles, to identify where there are opportunities for efficiencies and any commercial opportunities. Our focus will be on directing our resources to those areas which will give us the best outcomes and deliver value for money."
Depute budget leader Matthew Reiss said: "It will not be easy to find more savings on top of those we have already made. Income generation, commercialisation and efficiencies become even more vital in this context in order to protect essential services and we do not have the luxury of the significant reserves we once had to give us any room for manoeuvre.
"It is undoubtedly the case that there will be very hard decisions to make and we will begin a process of engagement to help us make the right decisions and do the best we can."
