City Budget gets green light

IT was never going to be a run-of-the-mill council meeting. And right from the off at the Lothian Chambers yesterday, the Lib Dem/SNP administration was left in no doubt that getting its first budget passed was going to be a slog.

Amid chants of "no more cuts" and whistle blowing from around 50 Unison protestors outside, councillors at first struggled to make themselves heard.

Luckily the campaigners had no plans to disrupt the entire meeting, though it was still six-and-a-half hours before the administration finally prevailed.

In the interim, spectators were greeted to a multitude of speeches – many far longer than decorum dictated – alongside heartfelt pleas, accusations of lying and scaremongering, riotous laughter, and pantomime-style boos and applause.

Opposition politicians were given their first taste of what was to come at around 11am, when council officials produced copies of the Evening News revealing the administration's plans.

A short while later, finance leader Gordon Mackenzie presented the plans to the council.

"Today marks a significant milestone for the coalition," he said. "Sceptics said this coalition wouldn't last, and indeed there were times last year when it looked like they, maybe, had a point. But today shows the coalition is resolute, it is radical, it is listening."

That did not convince everyone in the Chamber though, as the opposition highlighted what they said were swingeing cuts that will have a "long-term negative impact on young people and families throughout Edinburgh".

The budget includes plans to force individual schools to make efficiency savings of 1.5 per cent – around 2.5 million across the city – alongside controversial cutbacks to community learning, and the withdrawal of grant money for some voluntary organisations.

Labour claimed the reduction in grants would amount to 2.6m, although the administration insisted the cuts only total 780,000. The details of which organisations will lose out has yet to be made public.

Yesterday's meeting attracted seven different community groups, who all made last-ditch appeals to councillors for more cash – all of which failed.

Representatives from the Cameron House community centre management committee, the City Federation of Community Centres and the Edinburgh Adult Education Group all warned against cutbacks to the community learning budget, with plans to axe a total of 16 posts.

Next up was long-standing community activist Tina Woolnough, founder of the pressure group Parents in Partnership, who criticised the efficiency savings being forced on schools.

"This is the wrong thing to do," she said. "School budgets are already starved."

Representatives from the Blackhall Community Association urged councillors to reconsider plans to curtail the subsidised number 13 Lothian Buses service, and the Moira Park Sheltered Housing Tenants' Association rounded on the administration for issues on care of the elderly.

Regarding cutbacks to voluntary organisations, spokeswoman Phyllis Heriot – a former councillor herself – said: "I wouldn't like that on my conscience. How do you sleep at night?"

Lib Dem and SNP councillors claimed that their budget will "look after the elderly and vulnerable" with an "astonishing array of services to the people who live in Edinburgh".

The budget includes 13m in extra cash for vulnerable members of society, 33m as a contribution towards five new schools, 21m for Meadowbank and the Royal Commonwealth Pool, 20m-a-year on roads and pavements, and 5m for pitches and pavilions.

Council leader Jenny Dawe rounded on Labour for "scaremongering", accusing group leader Ewan Aitken – who earlier fell ill and was forced to go home – of spending "the last few weeks doing down this city".

Labour councillors spent the next ten minutes trying to persuade Lord Provost George Grubb to permit votes on a variety of amendments to the administration's budget – which proved fruitless. Presenting the party's alternative budget – which pledges to avoid cuts in schools and community learning – deputy leader Ian Perry said: "There is 110m additional money available for the council, and if that money is managed properly there is no need to cut or threaten to cut any services."

The Tory group presented its alternative budget with an unexpected promise of a one per cent cut in council tax, alongside the largest investment in roads and pavements of all parties.

Leader Iain Whyte said: "People in Edinburgh last May voted for what they thought was change. Today, we put forward a budget that will bring about real change."

The three Green councillors also produced an alternative budget, pledging to avoid education cutbacks and with 11m earmarked for a revamp of Meadowbank Stadium.

SNP group leader Steve Cardownie accused Labour's Holyrood leader Wendy Alexander of an "absolute lie" when she wrote in the News recently that Gorgie City Farm was under threat.

But Labour's Andrew Burns hit back at the administration for "having the cheek to accuse us of scaremongering". He added: "Edinburgh has had two decades of protection for the vulnerable, and support for schools. This was a good council getting better – but it's not anymore."

Green councillor Steve Burgess said he had "grave concerns" about the administration's budget: "The cuts will impact on people who need council support."

Shortly before 4.30pm, councillors voted on each of their respective budgets resulting in 29 votes for the administration, 14 for Labour, 11 for the Tories and three for the Greens.

As the weary politicians departed, veteran Tory councillor Allan Jackson commented: "This is my 32nd budget. Today has been fully predictable."