Budget day

TOMORROW there will be a special meeting of the full council to set the budget and Council Tax rates for 2024/25. Unlike the UK Chancellor, I won’t be carrying my proposals into the meeting in a red box.

The Council has a funding gap of £2.5 million in 2024/25 alone and the estimated shortfall over 2025/28 is £16.8m and councils are legally obliged to set a balanced budget. These continue to be extremely challenging times for this Council and councils right across the country.

Unlike in previous years, there is no political consensus through the Members’ Budget Working Group made up of representatives from all parties and independents. That means there are currently two budget proposals going before the Council for consideration tomorrow.

Crucially, one proposal is to reject the Scottish Government’s Council Tax freeze and the other is to accept. One proposal is to set a two-year budget and the other is to set a one-year budget with decisions for 2025/26 delayed until this time next year.

Both proposals, plus an overview of the Council’s current financial position, are publicly available in the ‘Committees & Meetings’ section of the Council website.

Regardless of which budget proposal the Council agrees, it promises to be an interesting debate. The meeting is due to start at 4pm and will be livestreamed on the Inverclyde Council YouTube channel. If you have nothing better to do with your time you may want to tune in.

A8 works

LAST week Scottish Water completed the major flood alleviation works on the A8 at Pottery Street.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone locally who has not been affected by flooding on the main road over the years. While this is a trunk road that is not part of the Council network, we have been working with our various partners over a long period of time to facilitate a solution and support as best we can.

There has been a fair amount of disruption over the last year or so, but it was always a case of ‘short term pain for long term gain’.

Clearly, we can’t predict what might happen in the future weather-wise. Even the Met Office’s finest can’t see that far into the future. However, this project should significantly reduce flooding on this key route for Inverclyde.

This was a major project with huge investment behind it that should, all being well, make a massive difference. 

Town Board

I was delighted to support the appointment of Councillors Francesca Brennan and Elizabeth Robertson onto the new Greenock Town Board.

The board is being set up to develop a long-term plan for Greenock Town Centre and help decide how £20m from the UK Government’s Long Term Plan for Towns Fund should be spent to improve Central Greenock.

Change won’t happen overnight but we, as a Council, are doing all we can to attract external funding to regenerate Greenock Town Centre. This funding is on top of the £22m Levelling Up project, the £3.2m West Blackhall Street regeneration project, and the recent completion of the £19.2m Greenock Ocean Terminal visitor centre.

Let’s get behind the efforts to transform Greenock Town Centre and indeed the good work going on across Inverclyde to improve all of our towns and villages.