Council / ‘There is always money when deemed to be necessary’ – councillor Scott
SHETLAND Central councillor Ian Scott has hit out at some of his fellow elected members after moves to introduce free school meals for all pupils and no-cost travel on public transport were defeated by majority votes.
Scott said councillors had rejected the proposals in the mistaken belief that “we cannot afford it” yet pointed out that the SIC appears to always find money “when it is deemed necessary”.
The backbench councillor has long been in favour of spending some of the council’s reserves to help those in need since long before the Covid pandemic and the current cost of living crisis.
He has never been able to gather much support for policy positions, but in May this year a number of new members were elected who in their election manifestos indicated that they were prepared to use some of the reserves to lessen inequalities.
Since then, though, a critical best value report from auditors expressed concern at the council’s financial sustainability.
At the end of November, a motion to explore the cost and feasibility of free public transport in Shetland was defeated by the casting vote of the convener.
A motion to introduce free school meals to all pupils received only five votes.
A significant amount of the council’s reserves, currently valued at around £400 million, are invested on the international money markets to earn a return which is then largely used to ‘balance the books’ and pay for the council’s annual overspend.
Councillor Scott said the recent refusal of members to introduce free bus travel and school meals to pupils brings up the question of what the SIC actually spends the community’s money on.
“I will highlight just a few areas of spending which fully illustrates our ability to find funds if desired,” he said.
“A month or so back, without members being consulted, we found £100,000 to fund a holiday for the late Queen’s funeral, and I dare say the same will be found again for her son’s coronation.
“We are not allowed to know what the cost of the appeal concerning the Sella Ness planning decision was, and as for the White House debacle, I asked if we will ever know what happened, and I was assured twice that we will never know.
“The only certain thing we know is that we continued to pay an enormous yearly rent for a building we could not use. Oh…and the termination of employment of our recent chief executive Mr Clark came in at an eye watering sum.
“I make no comment on the justification or otherwise of these spendings. The point I am making is that there is always money when it is deemed necessary.”
Scott added: “All I am saying is that when members chose to reject free school meals and free travel, it would appear that this is because we either mistakenly believe the old chestnut of sustainability – we cannot afford it – or we believe that we should revert, as soon as possible, to a reliance on the Poor House.”
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