Council says 'do it yourself' as cuts bite

In comments which will draw comparisons to David Cameron's call for a "Big Society", Edinburgh City Council's chief executive Sue Bruce suggests the council should "explore all options" in pulling back from some of its work when local people show they can provide it voluntarily.

Local authorities across Scotland are this week finalising their budgets for the new financial year which, for the first time since devolution, involves a real terms cut in spending.

In the face of declining budgets and rising costs and to avoid compulsory redundancies among council workforces, local government managers are calling for a culture change whereby able communities provide services that the state can no longer afford to manage. These include meals-on-wheels for elderly residents, driving patients to medical appointments and snow-clearing of public spaces.

The central government grant to councils will be cut by 539 million this coming financial year, to just over 9 billion. Edinburgh City Council plans to save 90m over the next three years. Glasgow City Council needs to find 101m over the next two years and Aberdeen Council says it needs to save 127m over the next five years.

In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, Bruce, who took up her new role last month following a successful stint in charge of Aberdeen Council, said it could be between six and eight years before there is any real terms increase in funding for local government in Scotland.

She said: "If we haven't got it (money], we can't spend it and we have to bridge the expectation gap between what we can do and what we can't."

Bruce said the theme of local communities taking control from the local authority had been raised in public meetings.

She said: "It seems an increasingly common theme in the discussions we have had with the public that if people do have the wherewithal and the ability to do something for themselves, is there a need for the council to intervene and do it for them instead?"

Bruce added: "It's not unusual in rural areas for there to be voluntary patient transport organisations and volunteers that run meals on wheels.

"There are good examples of where communities run their own schemes to deliver services locally and we need to explore all the options there."

Professor Richard Kerley of Queen Margaret University said: "There are countries where there is an expectation that when you have a fall of snow, it's up to you to clear it. It's about putting more responsibility back on to people."