Labour motion blasting SNP is backed at budget cut meeting

North Ayrshire Council's SNP members had called a special meeting on Wednesday to agree to a public consultation to find out which services residents would like to slash - or start being charged for.

They included the potential introduction of a £50 fee for garden waste collections, bringing in town centre parking charges, cutting back on school crossing patrols and axing the Arran Outdoor Centre.

The SNP group proposed that the special meeting 'note' the consultation plans.

But they faced a furious backlash from Labour members who, with Conservative support, won an amendment by 14 votes to seven.

Labour leader Councillor Joe Cullinane told the meeting he was "livid" and accused the Nationalists of trying to pass the buck for their "failures" to the council as a whole.

Council leader Marie Burns angrily accused him of a rant, adding: "Labour never fails to disappoint."

Labour’s amendment read in full:

“The council wishes to express its frustration that elected members have been called to a special meeting to ‘note’ a report.

“Believes that opposition members being asked to ‘note’ a report which outlines a range of potential cuts that our communities will be consulted on is an attempt by the administration to create collective responsibility for decisions that they have given approval for (i.e the decision to consult on these cuts).

“Notes that over £12.6 million of money from reserves (including monies associated with the PPP service concession) the Strathclyde Pension Fund payment holiday and one-off savings have been used by the administration to balance the last two budgets but that the promised transformation has not been delivered, putting further pressure on the council’s finances.

“Expresses its disappointment that having used £12.6m of non-recurring funding to balance the budget, decisions that this council has previously rejected (town centre parking charges, a £50 charge for brown bin collections, the closure of Arran Outdoor Centre and cuts to teachers numbers to name a few) have returned as part of this report.

“Condemns the administration’s management of the council’s finances and wishes to make it clear that the proposals outlined in Appendix 1 are owned by the administration, not opposition members who were only advised of them a matter of days before the papers were published.”

Cllr Joe Cullinane and Council Leader Marie Burns (Image: NAC) Cllr Cullinane, who proposed the amendment, said: "I am angry at this paper and the position we are facing as a council.

“I am angry because we warned this was where the SNP administration was taking us.

"We even have the closure of Arran Outdoor Centre – the centre that the deputy leader of the council proudly saved from himself just 18 months or so ago and which he described as 'undoubtedly a real asset to North Ayrshire'.

"So, am I angry? Aye, I am absolutely livid."

Addressing the SNP, he added: “You want to run the council, then take some responsibility, own the decisions that have got us here.

“The buck for these proposals stop with the council leader and the administration.”

Council leader Marie Burns hit back: “I don’t quite know where to start with Councillor Cullinane’s rant. The reason this meeting is being called is to be open and transparent with the position that the council faces.

“I did have the hope that it would be not overtly party political, but Labour never fails to disappoint.”

SNP Councillor Tony Gurney said of Labour: “They do have a good line in performative outrage, but I suggest they don’t go on stage because as ever, all they do is complain. It is a complete abdication of responsibility.”

Independent Councillor Donald L Reid was appalled that the question of not replacing members of the school crossing patrol team when they left or retired was even on the agenda.

He said: “The safety of our children in North Ayrshire has to be paramount. I feel bad that it even being considered. To me that should never be allowed.”

Conservative Cameron Inglis proposed a budget group be established with councillors and officers to allow for “open discussion to find a political consensus.”

That motion fell at the voting stage, with Labour abstaining and SNP members voting against it.