Society’s alarm over implications of ‘unclear’ budget

29 November 2007

Senior council officials have expressed alarm at the implications of the Scottish Government’s budget for planned major capital projects.

The Scottish National Party, in its first-ever budget, placed most of the capital funding for local government into a single pot, worth £2.9bn over three years, ‘providing local authorities with much more flexibility in allocating resources to frontline services’. The distribution, by authority, is due to be set out in a Scottish Government circular next month.

The Society of Chief Officers for Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) said ‘it is unclear’ whether this means funds previously announced for major schemes that was due to be made available in 2008/09 would be re-distributed among all 32 authorities.

Ken Laing, chair of SCOTS, said: ‘There was no mention in the Budget of previously-confirmed funding. We’re seeking meetings with the Government about this.’

A number of flood-prevention schemes developed by local authorities had previously gained approval in recent months for construction work to start in 2008/09, which followed the earmarking, from 2006 to 2008, of a specific £75M pot. The Budget expects the £2.9bn to pay for ‘schools, flood-prevention measures, roads, waste management, the police estate and that of the fire and rescue services’.

As well as throwing into doubt schemes which authorities were ready to start building, Laing said this would mean ‘the jam will be spread too thinly in future years for authorities to undertake major capital projects’. Under the Budget, the £1.5bn backlog of local road repairs ‘is unlikely to be addressed’ over the next three years.

Extra funding would be required even just to hold conditions at their present levels, given construction inflation. But an increase in revenue funding of 2.7% meant there ‘appears to be little surplus revenue available for transportation’.

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Society’s alarm over implications of ‘unclear’ budget

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