Council tax

There has been much discussion about council tax and the decision of the council to set its own rate for next year.

The council had initially been facing an estimated £12.5m funding gap over the next two financial years and councils are legally obliged to set a balanced budget. The decision to increase council tax avoids further cuts to jobs and services.

It’s worth remembering that councils have a democratic right to set their own rate of council tax and the 8.2 per cent rise agreed for 2025/25 works out to an extra £1.50 a week for Band A properties, which accounts for 46 per cent of Inverclyde households, or an additional £1.75 weekly increase for Band B properties – or 16 per cent of households. The average weekly increase for the remaining 28,700 households is £1.99.

Around 28 per cent of households in Inverclyde will not pay any more in council tax next year. That is based on 2,300 of Inverclyde’s 40,000 households being exempt from council tax and 9,000 households do not pay any more when it is increased as they are in receipt of council tax reduction.

I am continuing to lobby the Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary, Shona Robison MSP, for Inverclyde’s share of the Scottish Government funding that was set aside specifically for Inverclyde towards a council tax freeze.

All councils should be entitled to a share of this funding irrespective of the decision they took on council tax. If that was to happen, the council could pass that on directly to residents by way of a council tax rebate, which would effectively achieve a council tax freeze next year. In an area that suffers from high levels of deprivation and has been hit hard by major job losses in recent times, it seems a sensible compromise that would be a win-win-win for the council, government, and the people of Inverclyde.

Royal visitor

Yesterday, Princess Anne visited the £20m Greenock Ocean Terminal building.

The Princess Royal is a regular visitor to Inverclyde and it’s great to have her continued support and to help to raise the profile even further of this first-class facility and Inverclyde in general as a good place to visit.

Her Royal Highness has a particular interest in sailing and maritime matters so I’m sure it would have been an enjoyable experience for her personally.

The Princess was particularly keen to meet some of the people who have benefited from the 70 or so jobs that have been created at the terminal building and who are now working there.

It was a nice way to mark the start of the first full cruise ship visitor season at the new terminal building. As well as creating much-needed jobs for the area, the Greenock Ocean Terminal development is expected to provide a £26m boost to the Scottish economy by attracting more than 150,000 passengers each year.

Morton’s cup heroics

Commiserations to Greenock Morton on missing out on a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals on Monday evening.

Conceding a late, late goal to Hearts – the third best team in Scotland – is nothing to be ashamed of and on another night Morton could very well have nicked a goal themselves and booked a place at Hampden.

It was a terrific cup run in the club’s 150th anniversary year in front of the biggest crowd at Cappielow since 2010.

It was a great advert for Greenock Morton, Inverclyde and Scottish football.