A COMMUNITY councillor has asked what cost is being placed on a child's life as North Ayrshire Council proposes to remove school crossing patrols in the authority.
The current North Ayrshire Council public consultation over its budget was also described as "phoney" at the recent Largs Community Council meeting.
The cuts were presented for answering in terms of 'higher', 'medium' or 'lower' impacts, without the opportunity for them to be removed altogether as an option.
North Ayrshire Council are looking to make £16 million of cuts in order to balance the budget.
The removal of all school crossing patrol officers is one of the options being presented in the proposals, with a budget saving amounting to £250,699, which supports 48 posts.
Community councillor Robbie Stevenson said: "And the situation of cutting a lollipop person in each town, what price are we putting on a child's life? You just can't."
Community councillor Wendy Low Thomson agreed and said: "Exactly."
And colleague Jamie Black said: "This consultation does not take this into account and realise it is a horrific idea.
"We can't put in alternatives, we don't know the structure and don't know the detail, these options should have been rejected right away."
"The consultation is phoney, as the questions are what do you think the impact of this cut, they have already made their decision what they are doing.
"The consultation is not worth the paper or the internet that it is written on."
Conservative councillor Tom Marshall said: "The consultation is online and very complicated but I would urge people to respond to the consultation.
"You must respond to the consultation as there are various concerns which have been raised and people need to have their say
"One of the things that should be considered is a freeze on recruitment because half the council budget is spent on salary.
"I know we don't want to cut jobs but that is one way to save money. There are other services that are non statutory but the council provides that they should consider cutting.
"KA Leisure gets £4m from the council and I have made the point that that should be pared back.
"There is also looking at cuts to the senior management structure because there is millions of pounds spent on that.
"It is not a done deal and the council put this consultation so the public could know about everything in advance and have their say. The Conservative group do not support much of this."
Jamie Black said: "It's a phoney consultation. The principal is that the consultation does not give you the option to oppose proposals - it just gives higher or lower impact? It is nonsense.
"We spent £300,000 to upgrade public toilets and we always come back to that as profligate spending by North Ayrshire Council, or £80-90,000 spent on the seafront car park technology that got binned."
Mr Black also said he felt that the consultation was 'misleading' as it didn't include details on the cuts to the North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership.
A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “For next year, we expect to have a budget gap of at least £16 million. This requires us to make significant savings. Unfortunately, that means there will be very difficult choices ahead.
“It’s important to stress that no decisions have yet been taken on any savings. We are now engaging with communities and would urge them to let us know their thoughts on the services we provide.
“Over the coming weeks, council officers will meet with community groups and stakeholders to gather their views on how any changes might impact them.
“In addition, residents and groups are encouraged to take part in online surveys on a range of areas – including school crossing patrollers - which can be found at www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/Budget2025
“Paper copies of these surveys will be available in local libraries and KA Leisure facilities. Alternatively, residents can call the council’s contact centre on 01294 310000 and the surveys can be filled in over the phone. The contact centre is open Monday to Thursday from 9am to 4.45pm and Friday from 9am to 4.30pm.
“The feedback received will help inform councillors when they meet to set the budget in February 2025.”
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