Western Isles Council moves ahead with budget process

Comhairle Leader Angus Campbell said: “The recent visit by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, emphasised the challenging times that lie ahead for the public sector, although we are not yet clear of the detail. However, it is obvious that the Comhairle will have to take difficult decisions which will reflect spending choices. To that end we intend to hold a series of consultation meetings throughout the Islands and a timetable for these will be made available soon.

“Reduction in resources”

The Comhairle recognises the importance of local authority jobs to the local economy and as well as continuing to argue for the retention of local service delivery will, as far as possible, seek to preserve employment although we are looking at voluntary retirements and redundancies as part of the Budget/HR strategy.

It is important that our choices are as fully informed as possible and that our budgets are set in a planned manner to allow us to continue to provide the best quality and best value services that we can, given the reduction in resources we are likely to face.”

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