Funding for Aberdeenshire rural partnerships to be cut
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Council funding for rural partnerships in Aberdeenshire will be cut after councillors approved proposals.
The local authority's infrastructure services committee backed the move, with the latest tranche of grants being the last.
Each of the region's six areas – Banff and Buchan, Buchan, Formartine, Garioch, Kincardine and Mearns and Marr – has a rural partnership, which provides advice and support services to third sector organisations.
The groups were founded in the 1990s and since then the partnerships have developed their own business and delivery models.
Some are part of wider area-based partnerships that deliver a range of voluntary services and access multiple funding streams.
At its online meeting on Thursday, councillors on the committee were presented with the funding proposals for the next three financial years, which will come to an end after this time.
The council annually allocates £33,900 to each partnership with £30,900 provided by the economic development service and £3000 from the respective area committees.
The report before the committee recommended that the funding be reduced to £22,500 in 2021-22; £15,000 in 2022-23 and £7500 in 2023-24.
It outlined that budget pressures and the change of focus in response to Covid-19 and community resilience in the future were the reasons for cutting the funding
The council's head of economic development Belinda Miller presented the report to councillors.
She said: "The proposal is not a reflection by officers on the value of the partnerships, rather one to achieve a budget saving due to the financial pressures the council budget is under at the moment.
"The partnerships are one of the last set of groups of this type that we currently fund still in this way.
"We had a meeting with the six rural partnerships, including the chair and the vice-chair of the committee last week, and as you can imagine the partnerships expressed their disappointment at the proposal.
"In consultation with them since that meeting last week they have indicated that they would prefer a reduction over two years rather than the three years."
This would equate to each partnership instead being awarded £22,500 during the next two financial years.
Economic development service manager Matt Lockley said: “Since January, we have been carefully considering how we can continue to support the longer-term financial sustainability of the partnerships, recognising that we are facing our own financial pressures.
“While we are no longer able to continue funding the partnerships at the current level in the medium to long term, we remain strongly committed to supporting these organisations through a range of mechanisms to ensure they can become self-financing.”
Committee chairman councillor Peter Argyle told the meeting: "This is complicated and is not a happy occasion.
"Over the last 20 years I've been much involved with rural partnerships.
"There are other groups in other areas of the council unfortunately, because of the continued pressure on the budget, that we've had to take these decisions with as well.
"The important point to make is the fact that we are in this position, and it is not through choice, we do not in any sense undervalue the work that the partnerships are doing.
"We will continue to support the partnerships in every possible way to help them move to a more sustainable model and to look at other funding opportunities. That commitment is there and will remain."
Committee vice-chairman councillor John Cox supported councillor Argyle's motion to approve the report.
He said: "Retaining the status quo is simply not an option for the council.
"These partnerships are a vital piece of support within our communities and we will continue to work closely with them to investigate new sources of funding and self-generated income over the coming months and years to ensure they become even stronger within the communities they support.”
Councillor David Aitchison said: "The discussion certainly reflects how difficult a decision this is, it is not an easy thing to do.
"That said, we are happy to go with the recommendation that is there.
"I'm encouraged in terms of the next stage for officers to basically help these partnerships to help themselves, to do all that work to help them in the future to establish themselves as standalone and sustainable.
"That is the task that we have now having had to make the unfortunate decision we are making today."
The committee agreed to approve the amended recommendation for the reduced funding to be allocated over the next two financial years.
It was also agreed that a meeting will be held with the Formartine partnership to clarify its status and this will be consulted to the Formartine area committee.
