Chief Executive Blog - June 2016
Hello everyone,
You will not need reminding that challenging times lie ahead for the council as it seeks to cut its cloth in the face of budget constraints while continuing to provide essential services to the public.
Yet it is important that we do not lose sight of the fact that these are exciting times for Moray and there is much to look forward to in the years to come. We are fortunate to live in a part of the country where the quality of life is the envy of many other areas and where people want to come and live.
That presents its own challenges but they are positive challenges and challenges that we welcome. Elgin alone is likely to see some 4000 new houses built over the next two to three decades along with all the other infrastructure – roads, schools, community facilities and so on – that will be required to support a growing population.
An estimated 400 additional service personnel and their families are expected to arrive at Lossiemouth which has been selected as the base for the RAF’s fleet of new Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Lossiemouth is another area which is likely to see sizeable housing development over the next few years, as are Buckie, Keith, Forres and some of our other towns.
Hopes are high that Buckie harbour will have a big role to play as a support base for the offshore windfarm developments in the Moray Firth, while Tomintoul and Glenlivet have submitted a £3.6million bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a series of regeneration projects in their area.
While very welcome, growth on this scale entails a great deal of forward planning on the part of the public sector, including the council, and later this month I, along with others, will be involved in discussions with the Scottish Futures Trust on how to ensure that everyone involved adopts a synchronised and coordinated approach as these various developments come on stream.
It is all about how to handle growth during a time of austerity and although that has its challenges, by working together and pulling in the same direction we can achieve the best possible outcome for the best possible value for all concerned.
The Scottish Futures Trust have useful experience in this area and I am confident their input at this early stage will prove extremely useful as we move forward.
Although most of us will be looking forward to a break over the summer, there will be no let-up in preparations for the inspection of integrated children’s services which takes place over a 12-week period from August to October. The inspection by the Care Inspectorate involves not only the council but also our partner agencies so it promises to be a busy time for all concerned.
The past two to three weeks have seen me shuttling back and forth to Edinburgh where, on separate occasions, I had the pleasure of attending the formal opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, a meeting of COSLA leaders and – along with the chief executives of the other Scottish local authorities - a briefing with the First Minister and the new Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution, Derek Mackay on the Scottish Government’s priorities for public sector services.
Closer to home, I was present at what proved to be a very moving and poignant ceremony at the Falconer Museum in Forres for the repatriation of a Maori skull which had been in the museum’s possession for 130 years.
Ancestry and heritage are central to Maori culture and two representatives from the Museum of New Zealand travelled all the way to Forres to collect the skull and ensure its safe return to its homeland from where it had been plundered during the 19th century.
It is difficult making a judgement more than 100 years after the original event, but I don’t think there were any doubts among those present that the repatriation was an example of a historical wrong finally being righted.
I also attended the relaunch of the Malt Whisky Trail at Glenlivet Distillery and the latest long-service awards ceremony for council staff at which we celebrated a cumulative 900 years of council service.
Finally, it is both an exciting and anxious time for school pupils, many of whom have been sitting exams and who will spend the next few weeks fretting about the all-important results. However, I hope they can relax sufficiently to enjoy the upcoming holidays and fingers crossed for some nice weather. Many council employees will also be looking forward to a well-earned break and I wish them all well however they choose to spend their time off.