Plans unveiled to cut £510,000 from Moray parks budget

Moray Council has unveiled plans to cut £510,000 a year from its parks and countryside budget.

Councillors have today (Wednesday) agreed to consult with the workforce and trade unions over plans to reduce the service.

The review, which will also include burial grounds, would achieve savings of £510,000 a year from the council’s parks and countryside budget from April.

The item was discussed in confidence at today’s meeting of the full Moray Council.

The council, which is faced with having to make £24 million of savings over the next three years, has already trimmed its grounds maintenance budget by £100,000 in the current financial year.

Councillors have also agreed to review the management structure within the overall parks and countryside service.

The council says there will be "inevitable" reductions in staffing levels, which it hopes to achieve through non-compulsory means as far as possible.

The agreed proposals include closure of the Elgin nursery which raises summer bedding plants; a restructure of the burial grounds service; a reduction in the council’s countryside ranger service; a reduction in the development, maintenance and monitoring of the core paths and countryside footpath network; removal of the Moray Training project; an increase in burial ground charges to recover the costs of the service; and a reduction in maintenance standards of low amenity areas in consultation with local local elected members and communities.

More on this story in Friday’s ‘Northern Scot’