Question reference: S5W-25490
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 25 September 2019
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 October 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement that it will provide funding to repair or replace a closed Moray beach bridge, whether funding will be made available to Aberdeenshire Council to allow for the repair or replacement of Park Bridge and, if so, when.
Answer
Maintenance of the local road network is the responsibility of local authorities to allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.
The Scottish Government’s available funding in 2019-20 is lower in real terms than in 2018-19. Despite this cut the Scottish Government have continued to ensure our partners in local government receive a fair funding settlement. The Scottish Government is delivering a funding package of £11.2 billion for local authorities, a real terms increase of £310 million for essential public services in Scotland.
Aberdeenshire Council will receive £480.7 million to fund local services in 2019-20. Taken together with their decision to increase council tax by 3 per cent, they will have an additional £23.3 million (5.1 per cent) to support services compared to 2018-19.