Tory-Labour Stirling Council to Cut Staff and Raid Budgets
The Tory-Labour run Stirling Council are facing fresh scrutiny from Stirling SNP Councillors, as 20 school crossing patrol officers face redundancy in the latest round of budget cuts.
The Labour budget – voted through with support from the Tories – will see the removal of 3.59 full time equivalent posts, referenced as a total staff headcount of 20 given the part-time nature of the roles.
In accepting these cuts, Labour and the Tories have committed to further spending of £275k from capital budgets, in order to substitute the safety activities of lollipop workers. However, it has since emerged the administration forgot to include this spend in their budget – meaning other road safety projects in the same period face delay or cancellation.
Stirling SNP Environment spokesperson Cllr Jim Thomson said:
‘This is yet another budget blunder from Labour and the Tories, which will have real consequences to our residents. Lollipop crossing officers are beloved across our communities, and the redundancy of 20 will be acutely felt by school pupils and their families. To then forget to include almost the almost £300,000 needed to replace this service with structural safety measures is just incompetence.’
‘Now pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers face a more dangerous experience on Stirling’s roads elsewhere, whilst money is diverted from other projects to backfill the lack of safety near our schools. It would be laughable if it were not so serious. Officers put real time and energy into ensuring infrastructure plans run to budget and schedule – but Labour and the Tories don’t care about the detail, nor the damage their cuts are inflicting to communities all over Stirling.’
‘Yet again, Labour voters must be wondering why their votes have been hijacked to implement a Tory austerity agenda.’