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BUDGET // ER Magazine


• The economy is stronger through increased business growth, targeted support and investment.


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• Our natural and built environment is enhanced and our environmental impact minimised.


• Residents live in communities that are strong, self sufficient, resilient and supportive.


• Residents live in warm, dry and energy efficient homes.


• Residents have access to a range of services via travel choices based on an integrated and sustainable transport network.


In 2014/15, East Renfrewshire Council will invest


over £30m in our environment and economy. We are investing £9.7m in the roads network plus £1.7m of capital investment to make sure our roads are safe and connected to the rest of Scotland. We will invest £1.9m in our parks and outdoor attractions to make sure local people and visitors have the best possible experience of what’s on offer in East Renfrewshire. We value our environment and will invest £6.5m in cleansing and waste management, retaining our position as the second top recycling authority in Scotland with 56.3% of all waste being recycled or composted. This year we will also spend £11.7m on housing across East Renfrewshire, to make sure local people have the best possible access to safe and modern homes that meet the Scottish Quality Housing Standard 2015. Our investment in housing is fully covered by rental income and charges through the Housing Revenue Account. Between 2015 and 2018 we intend to make a


total of £2.7m savings in this area. £1.5m of this (57%) will be delivered by changing how we do things internally, through efficiencies such as redesigning our internal structures, introducing agile working and reducing our support services and management costs. Further efficiencies will be made through asset management and reducing our accommodation costs, by increasing our fees and charges for such things as taxi testing and by generating commercial income streams. Around £1.1m of savings will be delivered by


redesigning a number of frontline services, and by removing some services that we currently provide. This will mean that local people will not have access to some of the services that they are currently used to, and will include:


Roads Revenue Works Programme: £306,500 We are committed to maintaining our planned capital investment in our roads network of £3.7m over the next three years, but are proposing to reduce our planned revenue-funded works programme by 9%. This will result in an overall reduction in repairs and will impact on the standard of the local road network. We will reduce planned works in areas such as routine roads maintenance, carriageway resurfacing and patching, and improvements to pedestrian paths. We will of course prioritise our maintenance work to address areas in most need and will continue to carry out repairs that relate to public safety.


Economy and environment East Renfrewshire is a thriving, attractive and sustainable place for residents and businesses to grow.


On/Off Street Parking Charges: £200,000 Many local authorities charge for on and off street parking, and we are proposing to introduce parking charges across the council in various sites, rather than reduce services. We plan to delay the introduction of charges until 2017/18 to allow time to identify and approve sites and charges, and provide ample time to communicate changes to local people.


Garden Assistance Scheme and Mr Diggit: £164,600 We are proposing to remove our Garden Assistance Scheme and Mr Diggit, which are available to local people if they are unable to manage their own gardens or are over 65. We intend to work with colleagues in CHCP, in line with our reablement programme that supports elderly and vulnerable residents to remain at home, to determine if we can provide a new service to accommodate the needs of our most vulnerable residents at a significantly reduced cost to the council.


Barrhead Civic Amenity Site: £159,100 East Renfrewshire’s population can ably be supported by one central civic amenity site and as a result we propose to close our Barrhead site, meaning all local people would be served by Greenhags in Newton Mearns. Although the closure of the Barrhead site will mean Barrhead residents will have to travel further to Greenhags, this represents no greater journey time than that of many Eastwood residents travelling to Greenhags. As the vast majority of people who use the Barrhead site do so by car, we do not believe the closure will prevent local people from being able to access a civic amenity site. The loss of the service in Barrhead may result in a short-term fall in recyclable material, an increase in the requirement for special uplifts and may potentially increase fly-tipping until local people adjust to the new arrangement. Our Cleansing Service may have to increase waste collections in the short to medium term to accommodate. Alternatively we can look at an option to reduce the opening hours of the civic amenity site but this alone will not generate the savings required.


Special Uplift Service: £35,000 This service is used by about 10% of households and we believe we can save money by discontinuing our appointments system, providing greater flexibility in how we collect special uplifts. This will limit our ability to meet our current 5-day response time and we will be unable to confirm exact uplift times for customers.


Repairs Grants: £79,500 In order to maintain the quality of the council’s mixed tenure properties – blocks of flats/properties shared by both council tenants and home owners, we provide a Repair Grant to home owners to help them meet the costs of communal repairs that are being undertaken. This proposal will reduce the level of grant support that can be received from 50% of the total repair cost to 25% of the total repair cost.


Area Forum Budgets: £34,000 Our Area Forums have delivered a range of local projects over a number of years, but more recently there has been a growing perception that Forums are no longer as representative of the broader interests of local communities, leading to a reduction in interest from local people. We are proposing to phase out a budget of £34,000 that currently supports East Renfrewshire’s 3 Area Forums to deliver local projects. We plan to review the Forums in light of our current review of Community Councils. The removal of this funding support will mean that future projects may have to be funded, if appropriate, by the relevant council service or through local fundraising.


Public Toilets in Barrhead Main Street: £25,000 This saving will mean that there will be no public toilet facilities available in Barrhead Main Street. Toilet facilities will be available for customers and visitors at the Barrhead Foundry in the town centre and at a number of stores and cafés.


Public Toilets at Cowan Park: £18,900 This saving will mean there will be no toilet facilities in Cowan Park for park users. Football teams who let pitches at Cowan Park will have access to changing and toilet facilities within Barrhead High School. In order to provide a sufficient notice period, we do not intend to take this saving until 2016/17.


Community Grants Scheme: £18,000 The council’s Community Grant Scheme provides a £36,000 fund to support voluntary sector groups. We are proposing to reduce this fund to £18,000. This proposal is made based on the potential benefits of helping local groups to access new funding opportunities, meaning they are less reliant on the council. In recent months the council’s Community Resources Team has supported local groups to secure external grant funding and in-kind support in excess of £65,000. We believe that this alternative approach to securing external funding will help to protect the long-term sustainability of local groups.


Automated Switchboard: £22,500 By changing the way we handle calls to the council’s telephone switchboard we will be able to save £22,500 without increasing waiting times for our customers.


Outcome


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