North Lanarkshire finance chief lays out plans for improved facilities but confirms 10% council tax rise

dailyrecord.co.uk:

North Lanarkshire Council’s finance convener insisted there will be no cuts to services in this year’s budget for the first time in 15 years - but also confirmed a 10 per cent council tax rise.North Lanarkshire’s elected members will balance the books of their £1 billion budget for the new financial year at a meeting this Thursday.Councillor Andrew Duffy-Lawson acknowledged the council tax rise could alarm some residents.But in an exclusive interview with Lanarkshire Live ahead of the council’s Budget day on Thursday, Councillor Duffy-Lawson insisted the local authority have ambitious plans for improvements to services in the next 12 months.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android These include the development of three new community hubs but also significantly investing in a significant number of schools and leisure facilities.He said: “There will be no reduction to frontline services and no staff redundancies and that is only possible because of the significant funding increase from the UK Government.“This is the first ‘no cuts’ North Lanarkshire Council budget since 2009/10.

It’s not a coincidence that budget was when Labour was last in power at Westminster.“The Scottish Government received a significant funding increase of 10.6 per cent but only chose to increase the local government settlement by 2.6