IN BRIEF
Shetland’s finances “concerning” Concerns still remain about the finances of Shetland Islands Council, despite improvements in other areas, according to a new report. Public spending watchdog the Accounts Commission
are at a record low. Tese are issues which really matter to people.” Conservative local government spokeswoman
Margaret Mitchell believes the independence question will colour the election. She says: “It is important people realise that if they cast a vote for an SNP candidate, it will be taken up as a vote for independence. It is going to be quite a different election than in the past with the prospect of the referendum hanging over everyone’s head and the uncertainty in the air.
“From there on, it is going to be a matter of looking at how every local authority tends to prioritise its spending. Te preventative spend and the bottom line of the Conservatives is that local government is there to deliver a service
a generation, seen recycling rates rocket under our watch, providing better council services than ever before. Te de-coupling of elections has made it possible to fight this on local issues rather than being drawn into national political scraps. People vote for a whole raft of different reasons but we will be making the local case and demonstrating how Liberal Democrats have improved their community. “Tere won’t be the same kind of traditional
“air war” that has surrounded previous elections so, now more than ever, solid grassroots campaigning methods will have the biggest impact.”
“The biggest issues in Scotland right now are jobs and unemployment. Four years ago, Scotland had lower unemployment than the rest of the UK”
and the very best service it can for local people. Tere will be stark choices in terms of spending and the general philosophy of what every local authority wants to spend its money on. “Every vote counts so, as far as possible, we will be looking to make sure that the candidates will be local people with local knowledge. Tat is really important because they already have a community interest. Tere is everything to be gained by saying to people, ‘Look, your vote is not wasted, if you don’t give us your first preference, please give us your second.’” For the Liberal Democrats, May will be an important test. Last year the party haemorrhaged 11 seats in the Scottish Parliament, as many people punished the Scottish Lib Dems for the actions of the Coalition Governments in Westminster. However, director of campaigns in Scotland, Adam Stachura believes people vote for very different reasons in council elections. He says: “We will be focusing on the significant achievements that Liberal Democrats have made in the councils that we are part of running all over Scotland and demonstrating why we are the best advocates for the communities we serve. We have pioneered the building of council homes for the first time in
Te Scottish Green Party has vowed to continue to defend public services and public assets in the face of cuts from Westminster passed on to the local authorities by the SNP. Co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, MSP Patrick Harvie says: “We’ve helped defeat privatisation plans in Edinburgh and have backed communities facing the closure of local facilities like Leith Waterworld. Scottish communities will be poorer, not richer, if
we sell off, cut back or close down our public places. “No one is going to deny the SNP won an impressive national victory in last year’s Holyrood election. However, this is a very different set of elections, with a wide variety of local issues dominating each and every council area in Scotland. Voters will be passing judgement on the actions of their local councils: the decisions they’ve made in response to funding cuts, how they’ve protected public services and on the headline projects they’ve managed in recent years. We think our current Green councillors have a strong record of local action and of promoting positive, progressive policies. “We’re a small but growing party and this means we have to use our resources very carefully. We’re putting more emphasis on getting Green supporters out meeting people in their communities, finding out what affects them where they live and work. We’ve seen Edinburgh joining other Scottish cities and banning lamppost placards for elections. Tis will save us some energy and twine but we think the decision will be bad for the turnout and bad for democracy.”
said the council has made good progress in implementing its improvement plan and now has many of the building blocks needed to provide best value. New political management arrangements and structures are in place and the council is developing a “culture of continuous improvement”. However, aspects of financial management continue to be of “significant concern”. John Baillie, chairman of the Accounts Commission,
said: “We welcome Shetland Islands Council’s prompt action and the progress it has made. “It is encouraging that the council now has in place
many of the basic but essential building blocks needed to provide best value. This positive direction and change needs to be continued and the council needs to ensure it has the capacity to do this.”
Funding boost from Midlothian Council Midlothian Council has approved £50,000 of credit to locally based industrial biotechnology company Ingenza Limited. The injection of cash will be used to establish a clean-
room facility that will enable the company to expand its technology and customer base and to boost the number of scientific staff it employs. Ingenza, based at the Roslin Biocentre near Penicuik,
Midlothian, engineers advanced microbes to manufacture products for a broad range of industry sectors that include pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and feed additives and biofuels. The company recently commissioned a laboratory
to bio-engineer microbes for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals to current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) requirements.
New school plans approved Plans to build a state-of-the-art building to accommodate James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh have been approved. The innovative plans for the high school have been
designed on the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence and will form a part of a £42m campus development. The ground-breaking project will be joint-funded
by the City of Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Government. The approval comes after extensive consultation with
school staff, pupils, parents and local residents. The other elements of the new campus, including an increased- capacity nursery and improvements to the primary school, are due to be considered for approval soon.
Design workshops in Nairn Highland Council is holding a design charrette for the Sandown site in Nairn from Monday to Thursday this week. The charrette will take the form of an interactive design
workshop that will allow the community, local authority and a wide range of stakeholders to come together to discuss and agree design ideas that will be translated into drawings to develop a masterplan for the site. The event is fully supported and aided by Scottish
Government. 30 January 2012
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