Labour Councillor for Leith Walk, Angela Blacklock, today quizzed Council officers during the meeting of the Policy and Strategy Committee. Councillor Blacklock is most concerned about the likely effect of the Council’s privatisation plans in relation to its future responses to severe weather.
The Director of Services for Communities, Mark Turley, admitted that there is a risk that contracting out the Council’s services to the private sector could make its response worse.
Councillor Blacklock said: ‘Privatisation of services such as waste management will mean that the Council has less flexibility overall. It may be unable to re-deploy staff from their normal work to more urgent matters, such as gritting and clearing pavements. The SNP/Lib Dem administration of the Council have admitted that they are looking at privatisation as a way of saving money, and have made no mention of improving services to Council tax payers. This is an instance where it may even cost the Council more money, as they may have to pay a separate set of private contractors to deal with snow and ice.’
Councillor Blacklock has a blog where she writes regularly about Council matters.
The Policy and Strategy Committee exists to advise the Council on strategic objectives and sets policies to achieve them. It also advises ways of setting standards for services and dealing with other matters including the Council’s social inclusion and equalities policies.
The members of the Committee are:-
Councillor Dawe (Convener)
Councillor Cardownie (Vice-Convener)
Councillor Balfour
Councillor Blacklock
Councillor Brock
Councillor Buchanan
Councillor Burgess
Councillor Burns
Councillor Edie
Councillor Godzik
Councillor Hinds
Councillor Jackson
Councillor Gordon Mackenzie
Councillor MacLaren
Councillor Mowat
Councillor Munn
Councillor Wheeler
