Moray Council votes through 'a budget for recovery'
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More than £38million will be invested in Moray this year to improve roads, schools, bridges, parks, open spaces and more.
Moray Council agreed the multi-million pound package on Wednesday morning while setting their 2021/22 budget.
The package has been influenced by the greatly increased number of funds presently available to councils from Westminster and Holyrood to help kickstart the economy.
As a result, council tax is being frozen at 2020/21 rates.
Meanwhile, work to repair Foths Bridge near Birnie – originally scheduled for five years hence – is being brought forward to this year.
In addition, the long-awaited plan to develop an all-weather pitch in Forres is set to go ahead.
The council's capital programme for the coming year includes a spend of £4.3million on Moray's roads.
Over £9million will be spent on school refurbishments and new builds.
A total of £10m will go towards waste management.
This includes contributions to the flagship Energy from Waste plant near Aberdeen, which Moray is sharing with other local authorities in the North East.
A total of £3.4million will be spent on economic development, while £585,000 will provide play park upgrades and cemetery expansions.
Graham Leadbitter, the leader of Moray Council, said: "The budget approved today is a budget for recovery – economic recovery, green recovery, social recovery and education recovery.
"It sets out substantial and ongoing investment in the many services that the council provides and which people across Moray rely upon every single day.
"We’re conscious that some projects were put on hold last year due to pandemic restrictions but we’re keen to see progress on these as Moray moves to the recovery phase.
"Approving the capital programme allows our services to continue improvements to everything from our leisure offerings to traffic management and road safety in the months and years ahead.
"We all want to get back to making the most of these services so we’re enabling our teams to be ready for that when we can."
The extra spending sits alongside £2.5million of savings identified in the budget.
Although some of these savings are temporary, none are said to require any redundancies.
Lorraine Paisey, the council's chief financial officer, cautioned that the covid-19 pandemic will continue to have a knock-on effect for some time.
She said: "It’s unclear exactly what the long-lasting impact of the pandemic will be on the council’s finances, but at the moment I am projecting the need to make significant savings in the next two financial years."
Conservative councillors put forward an amendment to invest more heavily in roads maintenance following a 50 per cent increase in complaints to the council since 2016.
Another proposal to replace the running track at Morriston Road in Elgin was also rejected.
Cllr Tim Eagle, the leader of the Conservative group, said: "With new funding pots available and low interest rates forecast, now seemed like the opportune time.
"Despite nearly all councillors welcoming the concept of the track, not enough of them were prepared to agree to spend a small amount of money to explore the options for it."
A full budget overview for 2021/22 can be found here.
Full spending details within the council's 10-year capital plan can be found here.
