North Ayrshire increases council tax by 7%

Councillors in North Ayrshire have agreed a 7% hike in council tax.

The ruling SNP teamed up with the Conservative Group to pass North Ayrshire’s budget on a tense afternoon at Cunninghame House on Wednesday.

The minority administration were forced into some horse-trading with their Unionist rivals which kept the council tax at the level recommended by officers of 7%.

A Labour amendment which included a council tax rise of 9% was defeated.

Elected members had gone into the meeting knowing that the proposals to end free town centre parking, close six libraries and the Arran Outdoor Centre had been taken off the table beforehand.

However, unexpectedly, the plans to cut the Eglinton Park ranger service had been left on the table for consideration amid a £15.7m funding gap.

The SNP motion had proposed keeping the Eglinton Park service, increasing council tax to 7.5%, using non-recurring investment of £325,000 or a wellbeing enterprise at Greenwood conference centre and merging the Streetscene and Roads functions as well as accelerating planned savings of £26,000 into a review of KA Leisure.

Labour’s amendment included reversing the cuts on teacher numbers, school crossing patrollers, the Mmusic service and Eglinton Park and sharing £4m in capital investment between Kilwinning, Saltcoats and Stevenston, Garnock Valley and Arran as well as a proposal for a 9% council tax rise.

Among proposals in the Tory amendment were cutting ten Community Learning and Development posts and the jobs of six Area Inclusion workers, as well as reducing council tax to 6%.

Labour leader Joe Cullinane said: “The budget decisions are shaped by decisions made by the SNP administration in the last two budgets.”

He said there had been “financial mismanagement” from the administration and argued that removing school crossing patrollers “risked the safety of children”.

The party also said it was wrong to cut back on teachers when there were “significant challenges in education”.

Tory leader Cameron Inglis said on presenting their amendment: “Our amendment gives the council a chance to reset some of its priorities into frontline services which is what our constituents want us to do. They want to focus on waste, roads, Streetscene and housing which for our constituents in the past few years have not been working.”

The Tories and SNP removed their motions and the new SNP-Tory motion removed the Eglinton Park cuts, merged roads and Streetscene, and accelerated £26,000 of cuts in KA Leisure.

Some £100,000 of funds were re-allocated from the Tree Planting Fund and £200,000 was re-allocated from the Community Asset Transfer Fund, called for a £500,000 investment in the roads and a new additional investment of £250,000 was proposed for Streetscene.

It was proposed to use £300,000 to support the exploration of a wellbeing enterprise hub at Greenwood conference centre.

Councillor Christina Larsen, cabinet member for finance and procurement, said: “No-one wants to increase Council Tax but we have seen across the country that councils have little option but to approve increases, in some cases by as much as 10%.

“The alternative to council tax rises would see a damaging impact to vital council services which so many people rely on.

“Despite the additional funding we have received, we still face serious financial challenges such as the new National Insurance contributions, increasing pressures in energy costs, inflation and wages, and an increasing demand on services such as health and social care and education.

“The seven per cent increase ensures that we can continue to deliver vital services for every part of North Ayrshire, especially our most vulnerable residents, while minimising the increase as much as possible.”

The SNP-Tory motion was carried with 18 votes compared to 12 for the Labour amendment, meaning cuts of crossing patrollers, re-alignment of teaching staff and re-design of the Music Service in schools remained.

Reform councillors Matthew McLean and Stewart Ferguson declined to put forward a motion in the debate and North Coast councillor Ian Murdoch abstained from the vote, saying he “objected to” the Budget.