The public budget consultation ran for a period of 10 weeks and attracted over 450 responses.
Four methods were used to gather views on the budget proposals. These were public meetings (59 responses), an online survey on Clackmannanshire Citizen Space (327 responses), email and letter (92 responses).
The consultation concentrated on 4 key areas, namely, what the Council could:
In general, the budget proposals drew broad and mixed reactions.
In the section exploring what services the Council could Stop providing, public opinion was very mixed. There was some acknowledgement that the Council should stop funding voluntary organisations who cannot demonstrate alignment with local priorities and also a high proportion of views against stopping school crossing patrols as these are seen to be paramount to child safety. Several suggestions were made on other areas that the council could stop.
Similarly, the section exploring the proposals to Reduce provision of Council services resulted in mixed opinion. Over half of respondents were against reducing respite support to carers, reducing the frequency of bin collections and reducing gritting. The letter and email responses fed back opposition to reducing Learning Assistant posts, Home/School liaison worker posts, speech and language therapy in schools and primary school swimming lessons. The most palatable services to reduce seemed to be open space maintenance and opening hours of council facilities and offices. Again, numerous suggestions on reducing service provision were made by the public.
In the section looking at proposals for Charging, the results again were fairly mixed. In general, the public agreed with proposals to increase charges for the hire of Council facilities. There was also limited support for prioritising free access to services through the use of means testing, increased charging for school meals and increased social work charges. However, several parents of children with disabilities wrote into the Council explaining why free respite provision is so important for them.
Finally, the section exploring proposals on Changing the way the Council provides services, resulted in clearer public opinion. The vast majority of respondents agreed that the Council should make more efficient and widespread use of Council buildings and merge school and community facilities. Likewise, there was overall consensus that the Council should make it easier to access Council services and should target funds to prevent problems occurring.
Overall, there was a sense of acknowledgement from the public that there were difficult decisions to be made and they welcomed the fact that the Council had asked for their opinion.
A budget engagement event is being held giving you a chance to shape the future of public services in Clackmannanshire.
This is part of the wide ranging public engagement programme to gather comments from the people who use the hundreds of services we provide every day.
The Council has already saved £14m over the past three years and it needs to save a further £25m over the next five years. Ultimately councillors will be making budget decisions so it is vital that their decisions are well informed and the impact of changes is understood.
Location: Devonvale Hall,
Moss Road Tillicoultry Clackmannanshire
FK13 6NS
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