East Lothian Council recently published their budget for the forthcoming year. The Council has been under great stress not to raise Council Tax. The majority of it’s funds actually come from central government (Westminster via Holyrood) and these have been frozen or cut. Costs, however, have gone up so the Council has had no choice but to try and balance its budget by either increasing service charges or cutting services. A difficult choice and one, no doubt subject to complaints from those that loose out.
However, two councillors haven’t exactly helped the process by putting their feet in the mouths. The SNP Council leader, when referring to the changes in ‘home to school‘ mileage threshold stated that pupils could “get on their bikes”. He’s now been challenged to “get on his bike” to see the state of the roads himself. However, he won’t be doing that on a cold, wet, dark winter’s morning! Meantime another member of the Council Administration (a Lib Dem) when commenting on the reduction of supported bus services – for environmental reasons – stated it would be cheaper to get people into taxis! Has he actually looked at the environmental aspects of this and is it actually cheaper cost wise to the individuals concerned. If people in the affected areas now use a taxi will the Council pick up the tab?
I suspect in both cases its a case of people opening their mouths without engaging their brains first.
Councillor’s with Foot in Mouth
East Lothian Council recently published their budget for the forthcoming year. The Council has been under great stress not to raise Council Tax. The majority of it’s funds actually come from central government (Westminster via Holyrood) and these have been frozen or cut. Costs, however, have gone up so the Council has had no choice but to try and balance its budget by either increasing service charges or cutting services. A difficult choice and one, no doubt subject to complaints from those that loose out.
However, two councillors haven’t exactly helped the process by putting their feet in the mouths. The SNP Council leader, when referring to the changes in ‘home to school‘ mileage threshold stated that pupils could “get on their bikes”. He’s now been challenged to “get on his bike” to see the state of the roads himself. However, he won’t be doing that on a cold, wet, dark winter’s morning! Meantime another member of the Council Administration (a Lib Dem) when commenting on the reduction of supported bus services – for environmental reasons – stated it would be cheaper to get people into taxis! Has he actually looked at the environmental aspects of this and is it actually cheaper cost wise to the individuals concerned. If people in the affected areas now use a taxi will the Council pick up the tab?
I suspect in both cases its a case of people opening their mouths without engaging their brains first.