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Scale of Highland Council savings 'immense' Highland Council to reduce size of gritter fleet
(about 11 hours later)
Councillors will meet later to discuss cuts to services and staff to help Highland Council save £55m over the next four years. Twelve gritting lorries are to be axed by Highland Council as part of its efforts to save £55m over four years.
The local authority's budget leader Maxine Smith has described the scale of savings it must achieve as "immense". The council currently has a fleet of 115 gritters for use on Scotland's longest local authority-managed road network.
Highland Council said the 12 lorries were older vehicles and the fleet will be upgraded with more modern machines.
The move, which will be phased over two years and helps towards a £600,000 saving, impacts on 12 jobs.
Highland Council said it would seek to redeploy the affected staff, or phase out the posts as the workers retire.
Lochaber councillor Alan Henderson and Caithness councillor Matthew Reiss have criticised the move.
Mr Henderson said the it would lead to the loss of skilled workers. Mr Reiss said gritting "saved lives".
Highland Council said it would retain the capability to treat priority routes and deal with emergencies.
Councillors have been meeting in Inverness to debate a range of cuts.
Ahead of the meeting, the local authority's budget leader Maxine Smith described the scale of savings it must achieve as "immense".
She said the administration had listened to public feedback on proposed cuts and it had sought to protect frontline services and jobs.She said the administration had listened to public feedback on proposed cuts and it had sought to protect frontline services and jobs.
An opposition group of councillors has suggested alternative savings.
A full meeting of the council in Inverness will consider the rival proposals from the SNP/Lib Dem/Labour coalition, which runs the council, and from the Independent group.
SNP councillor Ms Smith said: "The scale of savings we need to achieve is immense.
"However, we are determined to deliver vital services whilst retaining vital jobs.
"The proposals we are presenting will of course have some impact but we have managed to do this while protecting hundreds of jobs."
Free lunches
Following public consultation, the administration said it had reduced the number of posts that could be lost from up to 1,000 to about 300.
The council said it was "committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies".
The local authority wants to save money from its winter maintenance budget by reducing precautionary gritting and treatment of lower priority routes.
Burial and cremation charges could rise under the proposals.
On Wednesday, the council deferred by one year a 1% cut in secondary school teacher numbers.
The Independent group's alternatives to these cuts include scrapping free lunches for councillors.