The Fife Council budget meeting took place today and as such I wanted to update the residents of Dunfermline South on what has taken place. As with all budgets, there were aspects I was happy with and some aspects that I have concerns with, and naturally as an opposition politician I was unable to get my way in everything.

One major victory was on school uniform grants for families with lower incomes. After I uncovered that Fife Council paid less than both the Scottish average and the Scottish Government recommended amount, I have been pushing the Council to rectify this. I was delighted that there was cross-Party support in the budget which led to an increase which will take us to the recommended amount.

During the meeting I did speak about the school uniforms. I also spoke about what appears to be a major u-turn on what the SNP had previously campaigned on for education. One of the major savings on education was a cut based on not filling posts that were proving difficult to fill. Last year the SNP campaigned on against Labour doing exactly this to make a £3 million saving, and I queried why this change was made. I was not particularly convinced by the answer however which seemed to differ from the wording in the budget.

The Liberal Democrats also made some positive proposals on two major aspects in particular. One was additional funding for health and social care, which is creaking at the seams due to budgetary pressures and an ageing population. The other was a £10 million investment for our crumbling roads. Unfortunately the other Parties did not agree to these measures, but this was in my mind a positive addition.

Another positive addition which I backed was further funding for additional front-line staff for our Parks, Street’s and Open Spaces team which will help to keep our green areas tidy.

There were various other savings that took place, and if anyone has concerns please let me know.