COUNCIL TAX FROZEN FOR SEVENTH YEAR IN A ROW

Households across all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities will benefit from a freeze in their council tax payments for the seventh year in a row.

The latest Scottish Government figures show that Band D properties in Dumfries and Galloway will have saved an average of £1,535.60 between 2007-2017 due to the freeze.

Local authorities have confirmed that in setting their budgets for 2014-15 they have included full provision to deliver on the joint priorities agreed with the Scottish Government to continue the council tax freeze, maintain teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers, and secure places for all probationers under the teacher induction scheme.

As agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the package of measures sees local authorities receive a flat cash settlement for next year when compared on a like-with-like basis with current local authority funding, but with extra money for additional responsibilities, including funding for those affected by the ‘Bedroom Tax’, council tax benefit reforms, free school meals and childcare expansion.

Funding for the continuation of the freeze is paid through the £10.6 billion MSPs have approved to deliver local services across Scotland in 2014-15.

Welcoming the announcement south of Scotland MSP Joan McAlpine said:

“This is the seventh successive year that we have fully funded a council tax freeze, which is good news for communities and households who will benefit from the savings this brings in a challenging economic climate.

“Alongside this funding we are working with local government to support council tax benefit reform and welfare reform, as well as providing funding for free school meals and childcare expansion.

“This partnership approach with local government is delivering real benefits for the people of Scotland in the face of the biggest reduction in public spending imposed by Westminster on any Scottish Government.”

Funding for 2014-15 includes £343 million for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, £51 million for childcare, and £20 million for Discretionary Housing Payments – over £977,000 of which will be distributed to households in Dumfries and Galloway facing hardship as a result of the ‘Bedroom Tax’.  

The Scottish Government will also be providing £15 million in funding for free school meals in 2014-15 – a move which over 4,300 children in the region are eligible to benefit from – as well as £13 million for childcare expansion across Scotland.

McLeod highlights Crossroads care & support services

MSP for the South of Scotland Aileen McLeod recently visited Crossroads (Newton Stewart & Machars) Care Attendant Scheme based in Wigtown to find out more about the services the organisation provides ahead of this week’s final consideration of the Public Bodies (JointWorking) Bill which will integrate adult health and social care services across Scotland.

Aileen said:

“I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit Crossroads, meet some of the staff and find out more about the services they provide, particularly given that this week in Parliament we consider the final stage of the Bill which will deliver integrated health and social care for Scotland.

“The great thing about organisations such as Crossroads is the way in which they already work with patients and their carers to try to make their care and support as seamless as possible. They offer respite care, personal care, palliative care, help with medicines, help with transport or shopping and cleaning the house. Really anything that will help to make life easier for someone with a long term of complex condition and their carers.

“To deliver this service Crossroads works closely with local social services, the NHS, Newton Stewart Community Hospital, Marie Curie and other organisations. All of whom help to ensure Crossroads can operate a 24 hour, 7 day per week service throughout the year, including all holidays. The work they do is fantastic and I was greatly impressed by their dedication, commitment and support they provide working with people across the Machars and Newton Stewart. What they do is exactly what we need to help care for and support people. More information about the kind of support the staff at Crossroads provide can be found on their website at:http://www.crossroads-newtonstewart.co.uk/. I’m hoping to highlight the excellent work Crossroads does as an example of very good local practice in the parliamentary debate on integration this week.”

First Minister announces second tranche of Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund

Communities from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway will share a pot of more than £100,000 to restore war memorials as part of the Scottish Government’s WWI commemoration programme.

First Minister Alex Salmond today announced that £103,535 will being awarded to ten memorials across Scotland. These are:

• Glasgow City: Kelvingrove Park (£26,250) and Gorbals (£4,500)
• Edinburgh City: Leith (£6,672)
• Dumfries and Galloway: Moffat (£1,728) and Kirkconnel (£3,375)
• Fife: Cupar (£17,901)
• Stirling: Stirling city centre (£29,853)
• East Lothian: Crookston near Wallyford (£2,115)
• Highland: Creich near Bonar Bridge in Sutherland (£10,693)
• Shetland Islands: Fair Isle (£448)

The Centenary Memorials Fund has helped 13 projects so far and applications can still be made to help the repair and conservation Scotland’s war memorials. The £1 million fund is a central part of the Scottish Government programme commemorating the centenary of WWI.

The First Minister said:

“Scotland, in common with so many other nations, suffered an appalling loss of life in the Great War, and its effects on Scottish life were profound and long-lasting.

“Scotland’s war memorials are a lasting tribute to fallen service men and women and it is hugely important that they are maintained. We owe it to the names inscribed on these memorials as well as the families they’ve left behind to keep monuments in a proud condition, reflecting the respect they deserve.

“War monuments play a central role in educating our young people about the ultimate sacrifice members of their community have paid in conflicts throughout the generations.

“I am delighted to announce more than £100,000 to repair and preserve our war memorials and I would encourage more communities all over Scotland to apply to the Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund to help keep these monuments a central and permanent reminder of fallen service men and women now and for generations.”

Frances Moreton, Director of War Memorials Trust, said:

“We are delighted with the latest announcement of grants through the Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund. These awards are making a significant difference to the protection and conservation of war memorials in Scotland and the memory of the fallen commemorated by them. War Memorials Trust encourages anyone considering a repair or conservation project to get in touch and see if your local war memorial might benefit from a grant in the next few years.”

Councillor Sadie Docherty, Lord Provost of Glasgow City Council, said:

“I am delighted War Memorials Trust has agreed to fund the restoration of one of Glasgow’s most iconic war memorials; the ‘A’ listed equestrian bronze monument to Earl Frederick Sleigh Roberts V.C. which stands proudly in Kelvingrove Park.

“A serving soldier for more than fifty years, Roberts rose through the ranks to become the head of the armed services and died during World War 1 during the retreat from the Marne, aged 82. This magnificent monument to commemorate this iconic hero was built by public subscription from the grateful people of Glasgow and unveiled in 1916.

“This project will complement Glasgow’s commemoration of the centenary of World War I, and will also complement wider investment in Kelvingrove Park planned in preparation for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“I would also like to offer my sincere thanks to War Memorials Trust for their financial support on another Glasgow project which is dear to my heart – the restoration of the Gorbals war memorial to James Stokes, a Glasgow recipient of the Victoria Cross.”

Sonya Linskaill, manager at Stirling City Heritage Trust, said:

“We are delighted to have been awarded a Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund grant towards the conservation of this important memorial in the heart of Stirling City Centre. The Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund provides a special opportunity to repair and conserve this Memorial ensuring that it remains as a fitting testament to those who gave their lives from Stirling in these major conflicts”

Details of round two funded projects are:

• Kirkconnel, Main Street, Kirkconnel, Dumfries and Galloway (WM6003) Grant offer: £3,375. The foundations supporting the path around the memorial are in ‘Poor’ condition and as a result of structural movement the surface of the path has cracked. In addition the path kerb stones have been extensively damaged. The grant funding will help fund the repair and replacement of the brick foundations and path surface. This work will include the replacement of damaged kerb stones. Details of memorial can be found at www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/node/141471

• Moffat, High Street, Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway (WM3814): Grant offer £1,728.Water is getting into the memorial through gaps left by cracks or missing mortar. In addition, the corrosion of the internal fixings of bronze finial and the bronze itself have combined to leave the memorial in a ‘Poor’ condition. The grant offered will support works which include the removal of cracked or missing mortar joints and the re-pointing of the memorial using a lime mortar. The bronze finial is to be cleaned and treated and the internal fixings are to be replaced in stainless steel to ensure the finial is secured. Details of memorial can be found at www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/node/141351