ShetlandTimes.co.uk » Committee agrees to slash development budget

Committee agrees to slash development budget

Posted By Malachy Tallack On January 31, 2013 @ 5:06 pm In General,News | 1 Comment

The proposed massive cuts to the development directorate were agreed by the special development committee on Thursday afternoon.

The cuts include a reduction of almost £3 million in the economic development budget for the next financial year, more than 50 per cent of the current year’s budget of £5.5 million.

Cuts will also come from planning (£385,000) and transport planning (£34,000). They will now go forward to the full council meeting on 20th February for ratification.

The community planning and development department will also have its budget reduced, by £51,000, which will be the first part of a 10 per cent cut in funding to the Shetland Museum and Archives, to be phased over three years.

During the meeting, committee chairman Alistair Cooper said: “I support what the staff have done, trying to get rid of the pain in the first year.”

It was up to the council to provide stability, he said, and the proposed budget reductions were the best means of achieving that.

“I will be recommending what we have here”, he concluded. The motion was carried without opposition.

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