Tag: councils

Councils struggle to cope with funding restraints

“Our evidence tells us that councils are finding the financial pressures increasingly difficult to manage” – Ronnie Hinds, Accounts Commission

Councils are showing increasing signs of financial stress and face even tougher challenges ahead, says the Accounts Commission. In its annual financial overview published today the local authority watchdog says funding has reduced while costs and demands have increased, and more councils are using reserves to fund services.

The Scottish Government provides around two thirds of council budgets. This fell by 5.2 per cent in 2016/17 to £9.7 billion.

2016/17 was also the last year of the council tax freeze.  Council tax provides just 14 per cent of councils’ income. The report notes that if all councils chose to raise council tax by three per cent, it would yield an estimated £68 million – broadly comparable to a one per cent pay rise for staff.

Overall council debt rose by £800 million in 2016/17 as councils took advantage of low interest rates to fund projects. While not posing an immediate problem some councils are concerned about longer term affordability.

The report highlights a number of financial pressures. A rising proportion of council funding directed towards national priorities such as educational initiatives means councils have to look at deeper cuts in other services. For example, resources for culture, planning and development, and roads have seen the sharpest falls in funding over the last three years.

The report also looks at the current financial year (2017/18) where councils have approved £317 million of savings and use of £105 million in reserves. Some councils could risk running out of general fund reserves within two or three years if they continue to draw on them at current levels.

The report aims to help councils plan ahead for setting their 2018/19 budgets.

Ronnie Hinds, deputy chair of the Accounts Commission, said: “Our evidence tells us that councils are finding the financial pressures increasingly difficult to manage. The elections in May this year brought in major changes in council administrations across Scotland. Councils that have demonstrated effective leadership and robust planning will be in a better position to deal with the challenges that lie ahead.”

Edinburgh is Scotland’s pothole capital

The true depth of Scotland’s pothole problem revealed 

  • Scroll to the murky depths of Scotland’s combined 154,0001 potholes reported in 2016 using interactive animation –
  • Confused.com’s scrolling animation reveals Scotland has the greatest pothole problem in the UK, drilling down OVER SIX KILOMETRES2 deep – that’s deeper than the Mediterranean Sea.
  • The animation’s regional view reveals Edinburgh has the deepest pothole problem in Scotland, with a total depth of OVER ONE KILOMETRE.
  • Scroll the total depth of the UK’s potholes combined, which is more than 40km deep – almost FOUR TIMES the depth of the Pacific Ocean.
  • In 2016, Scottish councils forked out almost £27,000,000 to repair potholes and more than £226,000 in compensation to those who’ve had their car damaged by craters in the road.

As the cold weather starts to set in, more and more potholes may start to appear on roads – a dreaded issue for both drivers and local councils. New research presented in a scrolling animation reveals just how deep Scotland’s pothole problem goes, and it is far worse than it appears on the surface.

A freedom of information request by Confused.com, the driver saving site, reveals a total of 154,310 potholes were reported to the region’s councils in 2016 – more than in any other UK region. Each local authority was asked for the minimum depth of a road defect to be considered a pothole, and this figure was aggregated against the total number to reveal a depth of over 6km (6,364m).

The animation allows users to visualise the true depth of the region’s potholes combined, scrolling passed iconic recorded depths such as the bottom of the English Channel (174m), Loch Ness (230m), and the Mediterranean Sea (5,270m). Users can then scroll all the way passed the Mariana Trench (11km) and the world’s deepest man-made hole (12.3km) into the Earth’s upper mantle (30km) before arriving at the combined depth of the UK’s 1,033,486 potholes. This is over 40 km deep and 3.7 times the depth of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.

The animation also allows users to drill down to specific local authority areas, and Edinburgh comes out on top for having the deepest pothole problem of the region.

Having this many potholes can be a very costly job for councils, as they fork out for repairs, as well as compensation to victims of damage caused by the craters in the road. In fact, a third (33%) of motorists in the UK say their car has been damaged by a pothole.

  • In 2016, the region’s councils spent a whopping £26,830,077 repairing potholes.
  • They also spent a combined sum of £226,238 to compensate drivers for damage to cars caused by potholes.

Top 5 local authority areas within Scotland with the biggest pothole problem, ranked by depth

Local authority areas No. of potholes reported Total depth £ spent on repairs £ spent on compensation
City of Edinburgh 35,329 1,413m n/a £69,385
Fife 29,188 1,168m £975,000 £519
Dumfries & Galloway 26,028 1,041m £1,820,892 £7,755
Glasgow City 13,128 525m £1,035,793 £16,945
Perth & Kinross 6,059 364m £746,157 £1,949

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: “Scrolling to depths of more than 40km really puts into perspective just how deep the UK’s pothole problem really is. They are a major bugbear among drivers, not least because of the damage they do to our vehicles – around £3.1 million worth of damage, which has been paid out by almost half of the UK’s councils.

“If drivers experience a bump in the road, they should report it to their local council as soon as possible before the problem gets any worse. The cost of motoring alone is getting more and more expensive and damage repairs is a big contributor to this, as car parts increase in price as well.

“For advice on pothole damage, and other ways to save on motoring costs, drivers can find more information at Confused.com.”