Scrapping hot school meals and repairs to leaking classroom roofs among series of measures proposed to save Edinburgh Council £77m

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 09:13

HOT school meals for secondary school pupils would be scrapped and leaky classroom roofs would not be fixed under radical new plans to plug a huge gap in the city council's finances.

The cutbacks are among a raft of proposals by council officials as they try to find savings of more than 90 million over the next three years.

Parking charge hikes, school and nursery closures, care home funding reductions and even an increase in the cost of getting married are among the other measures in the massive shake-up.

Poll: Do the council's ideas for cutting costs go too far, or not far enough?

The 146 savings proposed by council officials total 77m over the next three years and would lead to the loss of nearly 900 jobs, although the council is to try to avoid compulsory redundancies.

The local authority is certain to face a massive public backlash as a result of the cuts and councillors will now need to decide which of the proposals to take forward.

However, even if that ends up being every suggested cut, another 13m of savings will still have to be found.

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's finance leader, said today the council was faced with "extremely tough budget decisions".

He added: "The reality is that we can no longer afford to continue running all of our services in the same way as we are currently.

"This council is going to have to face some very difficult decisions to balance the books at a time when there is an increased demand for some services."

Senior finance staff on the council admit that there is little leeway and, if some of the proposals are rejected, they will need to find other ways to save cash.

Karen Kelly, head of financial services at the city council, said: "It is very important. I have been stressing to all councillors that next year will be difficult and after that it will get worse."

Every department has worked towards producing plans that would strip out 4 per cent of frontline costs for each of the next three years, while support costs are to be reduced by ten per cent next year and another four per cent in each of the following two years.

Schools look set for the most radical reforms if the proposals by the children and families department are passed by councillors, with two secondary schools earmarked for closure, as first revealed in the Evening News last month.

It has still to be decided which schools would close, with the first due to shut in 2011-12 and the other in 2012-13.

The department also proposes putting the Scottish Government's policy of free school meals for all primary 1-3 pupils on hold for at least the next three years.

But many of the most controversial proposals likely to hit schools have been made by other departments.

The corporate services department has proposed reducing the meal service in secondary schools to pre-packed lunches, ending the provision of hot meals..

It estimates that the policy, which would be implemented next year, would save 434,000.

Such a move would clearly provoke uproar, especially in the wake of last year's successful Evening News campaign to return hot meals to nursery schools.

City development has suggested saving 501,000 by only instructing work to take place in all council buildings – including schools – if they are categorised as "life and limb" as opposed to "wind and watertight". Council sources have confirmed that it means problems such as leaks in the roof would not be fixed unless there was an obvious danger to health and safety.

Residents could also face having to pay more for a range of council services. Free special uplifts of unwanted goods, which have been gradually reduced over the years, would be replaced with a standard 20 charge.

Parking in the central zone would rise 10 per cent to 2.20 an hour in 2010-11, with periphery zones rising to 40p to 1.60 a year later.

Members of the council administration will now assess which proposals to accept as part of their budget for next year, to be agreed in February.

City leader Jenny Dawe said: "I would like to emphasise that the proposals in the budget packs are officer suggestions to address the unprecedented financial situation we face. These have been shared with all political parties and some will be politically unacceptable to the administration."