A sign of the times

There is a big debate going on in Argyll & Bute about the Council budget , which will be decided next Thursday.   I had it raised on the doorstep today when I was canvassing in Mid Argyll and it was discussed at the local Constituency meeting this afternoon. 

The Liberal / Tory / Independent Administration are trying (so far unsuccessfully ) to persuade local people that the cuts they are considering imposing (having consulted on them under the false flag of "Service Choices") are driven in the most part by  reductions to the Council's funding from central government.

In reality the bulk of the problem lies in two other areas - in the Council's failure to stem depopulation and in the woeful mismanagement of the Council by that administration and in particular by the lack of transformation of service delivery which has been promised for several  years, but which has never materialised, a point commented on in a recent Audit Scotland report on the authority. 

Many local voters  are also dismayed by the mismanagement of Council resources.  The sage of Castle Toward is well known locally and nationally , and continues with no sale yet in place  with  the cost to the Council continuing tro rise at an astonishing £800 a day.   If those in charge had accepted the South Cowal community offer last year they would be almost a million pounds better off.

I saw earlier a week a Freedom of Information request that also revealed extraordinarily high expenditure on external legal advice, considering the Council employs 8 legally qualified staff and I heard professional concerns yesterday about new staff being hired for the Council's Economic Development Department who will duplicate effort already being made by other agencies.  

And while there are many other examples of such profligacy and careless disregard for actual local needs here is a very visible one that those who drive the  A815 see every day.  

This is a solar powered, variable message sign.  It is intended, I am told, to be used to give warning to drivers at Strachur if the A83 is closed at the Rest & Be Thankful.   That would allow those coming from Bute and other parts of Cowal to diver to the ferry at Dunoon.   Presently they might get as far  as  Cairndow before having to turn back.

However the sign has been sitting unused at the roads depot at St Catherines beside Loch Fyne for more than two years.  Some time ago I was assured  that  a hardened stand was being  being prepared for it at Strachur, but that has now  been in place for several months.  

Last year it blew over in a storm but  was eventually righted.  This year (nothing having been learned about its safe storage, obviously)  it blew over again and looks damaged.   

I don't know what it cost, or what it will take to repair.   But as a symbol of  careless stewardship of  public  resources in this lovely area of Scotland, rich in potential , it stands (or rather lies on its side) for much else that is wrong and needs sorted. 

(PS : it has just been pointed out the me that the Council Leader , Cllr Dick Walsh, has to drive past this spot every time he goes to, or comes back from, the Council HQ at Kilmory.  So he has seen this several times a week and still nothing has happened.  Just as he has seen the roofless Castle Lodge by the main pier in Dunoon - it is  in his own ward - regularly for over a year and it is still derelict)