Whilst I'm genuinely pleased to see the good people of Moray being promised flood prevention monies just yesterday ...... as a local Edinburgh Councillor, I can't help but despair at the contrast with the way that Edinburgh has recently been treated over funding for its long-standing flood prevention plans :-(
The ending of specific funding for flood prevention work, back in 2007, is definitely an illustration of why all Local Government finance 'ring-fencing' wasn't necessarily bad :-(
Frankly, I - and many others - think something is very seriously awry with the way the Scottish Government are now allocating flood prevention monies.
The ending of specific funding for flood prevention work, back in 2007, is definitely an illustration of why all Local Government finance 'ring-fencing' wasn't necessarily bad :-(
Frankly, I - and many others - think something is very seriously awry with the way the Scottish Government are now allocating flood prevention monies.
7 comments:
You can't possibly compare the flooding in Moray to the problems in Edinburgh, they are of an entirely different scale.
Grogipher
Thanks for the comment - you're right about the scale of the flooding, and I'm not comparing that ... was merely trying to make a point about the serious problems (as I and many others in Edinburgh see it) with the way that flood protection monies are now being allocated.
Andrew
But the end of ring fencing didn't mean the removal of monies; it meant the removal of restrictions on the spending of those monies.
If Edinburgh City Council are determined to waste their cash on things like Trams instead of flood defences, that's their choice.
I would probably agree that more needs to be done to prevent flooding nationally, but I wouldn't blame the removal of ringfencing for it...
Grogipher
Aaahh the old trams 'blame them for everything' line :-(
--- come on, you know as well as I do that they were funded from an entirely different budget head that had already been allocated pre-2007 to the City of Edinburgh Council.
I'm not 'blaming' the removal (per se) of ring-fencing for the problem ... I'm simply pointing out that it has led to serious problems in relation to previous commitments about which schemes were to be funded, as some of them are now not being so :-(
Anyhow, thanks for the further comment and for checking out the blog ...
Andrew
As someone from outwith Edinburgh, it's the only large scale spending project I'm aware of.
"The ending of specific funding for flood prevention work, back in 2007, is definitely an illustration of why all Local Government finance 'ring-fencing' wasn't necessarily bad :-("
Sounds, to me at least, as though you're blaming the end of the ring fencing.
It's up to the City of Edinburgh Council to find the cash if it wants such a scheme.
OK - thanks ... looks like we'll just have to 'agree to disagree'!
Ok, lets abandon trams and spend all the money on a giant umbrella for the city.
Or, why don't we stop moaning, crack on with the project, and end up with a tram system that loads of people will use.
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