Aberdeen puts £120m question to the people

The people of Aberdeen have been asked to decide which city council services should be cut in the search for £120million of savings.

The council launched its “biggest ever” public consultation yesterday to identify services citizens want to see protected from the cutbacks.

The move came after George Osborne’s emergency Budget all but confirmed fears that the council will face another £120million of cuts over the next four years.

All services not legally required or considered a priority could be at risk due to the spending squeeze. Several hundred jobs are expected to go at the council as well.

A new review is also to be carried out of the council’s capital spending plans, potentially raising doubts about the future of dozens of infrastructure projects.

The leaders of the authority’s Lib Dem-SNP administration revealed the grim outlook at a press conference in the town house yesterday.

John Stewart, Lib Dem council leader, said: “We are going to have to take a long, hard look at the services we provide to see if we can continue with them in the future. Clearly, this will have an impact, not only on the council and its workforce, but on our citizens and partners as well. It is clear that, across the public sector, the workforce will be reduced.”

Kevin Stewart, the SNP deputy council leader and convener of the finance committee, said: “We will be doing everything to protect the front line but, when you’re talking about such large sums of money, that’s going to be difficult.

“It will be the biggest ever public engagement with the citizens of Aberdeen. They will tell us their priorities and we will make decisions.”

The pair would not be drawn on the details of any job cuts.

Last week, when councillors discussed scrapping automatic pay rises for staff to save £4.5million, officials told them the alternative would be more than 200 job losses.

The same calculation suggests almost two-thirds of the authority’s remaining 8,500 workers would be at risk if £120million of cuts were pushed through.

“They will have to start doing their sums because there will be no one left,” said Tommy Campbell, north-east organiser for the Unite union.

“I don’t understand what they mean by engaging with the public because the public have already been telling them we don’t want the city square and we’ve told them we want our roads repaired.

“It’s disgusting that there are more and more cuts on the way. We’ve already seen cut after cut, year after year.”

The savings will represent the first “real” cuts in the authority’s 15-year history, despite more than 1,000 jobs and £75million of spending already having been slashed in three years.

Previous cutbacks, which prompted public outrage and an inquiry by the Accounts Commission watchdog, tackled only soaring costs at the council.

Scotland’s second-lowest-funded authority now faces an actual reduction in its budget of up to £80million, as well as tackling £40million of rising costs. Council officials are preparing a five-year business plan and the aim is to consult the public on an ongoing basis. Details of next year’s budget are expected to emerge in September.

Stewart Carruth, the council’s corporate governance director, said: “We must have this business plan in place for February 2011.

“There’s a significant amount of work already done and it will include significant engagement.

“We have really embraced the notion that we need to prioritise.”

Council leader Mr Stewart said his administration’s priorities would be protecting the most vulnerable people in the city, tackling waste management pressures, affordable housing and homelessness services, as well as improving schools.

He added that some services could be “outsourced”, while talks would have to be held with the private and voluntary sectors to see how such groups could help deliver some services.

Opposition Labour group secretary Willie Young said the leaders of the administration were “not fit” to steer the city through such difficult times.

“They have only got one answer – get rid of staff,” he said. “The priorities have to be education, social work and making sure our staff are looked after.

“It’s always good to talk to people but we can’t ask 230,000 people what they think of this and that.

“We are elected to make decisions, but these people are too scared to make decisions. We need leadership.”