Down the drain ...

Whether you accept the total figure as £5.4million, or the adjusted figure of £3.1million, there's no denying that's a lot of revenue funding that could have been spent elsewhere ...

... it's frankly pretty poor to claim that the Department in question absorbed the cost and still returned a balanced budget - any idiot can work out that if the strike had been avoided there would be somewhere between £3.1 to £5.4million surplus that could have been spent on other services.

It's money (revenue monies, not capital monies) down the drain, that could have funded many, many services within the city ...

... all the posturing in the world can't hide that fact.

Jet-setting Council?

I know I've said it already ...

... but really - the current Council Leadership need to get a grip on this sort of expenditure, as every single element of such spending is going to be magnified ten-fold over the coming months as numerous cuts and closures come to reality :-(

Some clear instructions are urgently required!

Cramond foreshore

A very pleasant Mothers Day spent down at the Cramond foreshore, with the compulsory visit made to the Cramond Inn for some light refreshments ...

... nice break from the ongoing election-mania ;-)

Three men and a ferret?

The focus at Full Council earlier may well (and quite correctly) have been the 'Grant Aid to Third Parties' report ...

... but a story in the local paper, about three men and a ferret, did distract from the proceedings somewhat :-(

Of course, it was all a throwaway comment, not intended to cause any trouble ...

Full Council today

Full Council meeting today - main agenda can be found here; and individual papers via CPOL here ...

... the main focus of the day is undoubtedly going to be the 'Grant Aid to Third Parties' report - which is here.

It's not just the headline figure of £1million being removed from the voluntary sector - no one seems to have picked up on the wider ramifications ... check out paragraph 2.2 on page 1 here:

"Financially, the leverage of other funds achieved by the grant aided projects was over £9 for each £1 of Council grant."

You can thus multiply that £1million cut by NINE if you want to find the real cost of what's about to be pushed through by the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition later today :-(

Portobello High School

Nearly four-years on and the rebuilding of a new Portobello High School is still generating plenty of debate and, sadly, still not one single brick laid ...

... report on progress (such as it is) up for debate/decision at tomorrow's Full Council Meeting - it can be found here.

What a tragic contrast.

Cutting their cloth?

Two days before over £1million is cut from the voluntary sector, we now get a proposal to spend over £10,000 on a boating holiday in America ...

... makes the earlier trip to St. Andrews seem like a sensible decision :-(

I can well imagine that several groups - who are facing significant financial cuts on Thursday - are far from pleased about all of this.

Not good.

Hutchison and Chesser Community Council

Hutchison and Chesser Community Council meeting this evening - lots of interest in the potential plans for the development of the old B&Q site off of Inglis Green Road ...

... I suspect the proposals for a larger retail facility could very well divide opinion locally - especially after the earlier refusal to allow B&Q to expand eventually led them to move out to Hermiston Gait :-(

New planting started

Started some new planting at the allotment this afternoon - ground seems just about okay now? ... famous last words!

Broad beans this weekend, and potatoes now 'chitted' so they'll hopefully be planted up next weekend.

And we finally pulled up the remainder of the leeks and cooked them all as part of our meal this evening - totally delicious ;-)

Alice in Wonderland

In between the never-ending campaigning, managed to fit in a brief visit to the cinema this afternoon (with Junior) to see the new Alice in Wonderland film ... very good - and the 3D effects are really excellent!

Grant reductions of "over £1million" confirmed :-(

Confirmation today that over £1million has been removed from Council grant-giving ...

... the 'positive' spin being put on the whole sorry-saga is that funding has been preserved at 95% of last year’s level - maybe so, but this hides some painful truths:

• check out paragraph 2.2 (on page 1) of the main report here
• this confirms that total grant-funding for 2010/11 is some £20.6million
• 100 divided by 95, times £20.6million = £21.68million
• £21.68million minus £20.6million = an overall reduction of £1.08million

... and most inconvenient of all:

• revenue funding for the Council in 2010/11 is GOING UP by 1.76%

SUMMARY

• Council revenue funding UP by 1.76% (circa £14million)
• Council grant-giving DOWN by 5% (circa £1million)

Yet more proof that this SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition know the cost of everything but the true value of nothing.

COSLA Convention meeting

Briefly up in sunny St. Andrews this morning for the COSLA Convention meeting ...

... scintillating stuff, I can tell you :-(

Grant reductions imminent

Full Council meeting next Thursday (11th March), so papers for the meeting will be in the public domain tomorrow (on CPOL) ...

... worth repeating that no organisations have yet been told, for definite, what's happening to their funding allocations - I'm sure there will be a furious round of formal notifications tomorrow morning prior to the spun-details appearing in the local paper around lunchtime Friday.

There will, however, be no hiding the fact that a huge amount of money was taken out of the grant-allocation pot by the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition on 11th February - and that reduction will mean real pain (if not closure) for numerous organisations come the 11th March meeting.

More on this to follow - sadly.

Watson Crescent Day Care Centre

Local MP, Alistair Darling, and I managed to fit in a visit to the fairly new Day Care Centre, located in the Watson Crescent area of the Ward, a few days ago ... just got this picture sent to me!

Both of us were really very impressed with the services on offer.

Excellent example of purpose built facilities providing an even higher quality day care offer than was previously available.

Very good to see much earlier decisions of the local Council coming to fruition ;-)

Too late ...

Bit of a justified stooshie in yesterday's local paper about some Council staff staying in an expensive hotel prior to an Awards Ceremony ... full story can be found here.

Well, I've noticed these pearls of wisdom were produced in response ...

... frankly, it's too late to "seriously consider not attending events like this" - there should already be in place (I doubt if there is, even yet?) a clear political instruction to the Chief Executive that all such spending is barred-forthwith.

Given the Lib-Dem/SNP Council is reducing funding across a huge range of services (despite getting a 1.76% increase in its own funding) then any profligacy, anywhere in the Council, is bound to be pounced on by the press.

Too late to complain now - and richly ironic to imply it's all the fault of Senior Officers taking decisions without reference to politicians ... Officers who are acting as if they run the Council!

I don't even think Councillor Dawe realises the truth that she speaks :-(

Michael Foot 1913-2010

I couldn't vote in the 1979 General Election - too young, believe it or not! - but did vote in my first General Election in 1983 ...

... John Smith was the Labour Party candidate (and MP) in my home constituency at the time, and Michael Foot was obviously Labour Party Leader.

Seems like a different lifetime now, yet it's less than 30-years ago ... I wasn't politically active at the time, but knew instinctively that both those men were politicians of true principle.

Where that there were more of them around in politics today.

Fruitmarket developments?

The long-standing vacant land at the old ASDA/Fruitmarket site may just be about to get moving - although I'll believe it when I actually see it!

... a Council report was before the Housing Committee this morning - all the relevant details can be found here.

I'd really welcome this proposal going ahead, as the site has been empty now for many, many years and is a constant source of numerous local complaints.

Would indeed be good to see it sympathetically developed!

Ashcroft monies in Edinburgh

The whole Ashcroft funding saga has mainly been a story of national significance - BBC coverage from this evening can be found here ...

... but it is worth having a look at the Electoral Commission's web-site here; select Conservative Party in the first drop-down menu; then enter Edinburgh Pentlands in the second box; then simply press search.

Result - over £14,000 donated to Edinburgh Pentlands Conservatives from "Bearwood Corporate Services Ltd." (a long-standing Ashcroft company!) during the 2005 General Election period.

This is somewhat contradictory to the assertion contained in a recent letter that a Tory MSP wrote to his local newspaper:

"The Scottish Conservative party raises all its finance within Scotland and does not benefit from any financial support from Lord Ashcroft."

Well, that's just not true is it?

And one can't help wonder how many other Ashcroft-donations have now been made in Edinburgh?