Argyll and Bute Council will deliver a balanced budget but the severe reduction in the council’s settlement from Scottish Government means that services will have to be cut.

  That’s the message from Council leader Dick Walsh, just three weeks ahead of the council’s final budget setting date.  

Councillor Walsh said:

“I want everyone to be clear that Argyll and Bute Council will deliver a balanced budget. All 36 elected councillors have a legal responsibility to set a budget. We’ve said from the outset that this budget will involve taking some very difficult decisions. Residents should be under no illusion that based on the settlement that we have received from the Scottish Government, there will be no option now but to cut services to make these savings.”

 “While we’d planned for significant budget cuts there was no way we could have predicted how severe our settlement would be. We did not know the actual figures until mid December, which has left us little time to discuss further savings before we announce our budget on 10 February.

 “We’ve made it clear since we started our budget consultation in August that we need to make cuts. Now we’re only weeks away from announcing what those cuts are, no-one should be surprised at how severe they have to be.

 “But everyone should be clear – we will deliver a balanced budget and it will involve taking some very difficult decisions.”

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