1 INTRODUCTION ______3
2 RESPONDENTS ______3
3 OVERALL SAVINGS PROPOSALS ______3
4 SURVEY RESULTS SUMMARY ______4
4.1 Overall Savings Proposals ______4
4.2 About the Respondent ______4
4.3 Service Closures/Reductions Proposals ______5
4.4 Charges/Income Proposals ______6
4.5 Staffing Proposals ______8
4.6 General Budget Reduction Proposals ______8
5 INITIAL ANALYSIS SUMMARY ______10
5.1 Overall Savings Proposals ______10
5.2 Service Closures/Reductions ______16
5.3 Charges/Income ______34
5.4 Staffing ______48
5.5 General budget Reductions ______53
6 FREE TEXT COMMENT SUMMARIES ______58
6.1 Part A Questions ______58
6.2 Part B Questions ______78
7 EMAILS/LETTERS FROM ORGANISATIONS ______90
8 PETITIONS ______91
9 EMAILS/LETTERS/NOTES FROM INDIVIDUALS ______92
10 WEBSITE FEEDBACK ______92
Note: This report is best read in colour to differentiate chartered data.
2 of 92 1 INTRODUCTION The ‘Balancing the Budget’ survey went live at 4pm on Monday the 15th January and closed at midnight Sunday 11th February. There were 2,793 survey responses completed which includes almost 180 hardcopy surveys.
The survey was in two parts. Part A, the short version, gave respondents the opportunity to comment on the overall budget proposals while Part B gave people the opportunity to respond in more detail to the individual proposals. Seven out of ten people completed the whole survey, while nine out of ten respondents at least started Part B.
2 RESPONDENTS Almost two thirds of respondents (64%) were female. The great majority of respondents were White particularly White Scottish (81%) and in the main were either Christian (48%) or had no religious belief (39%). Almost two thirds of respondents (65%) do not suffer any of the health conditions offered to choose from. Three out of ten (29%) respondents were from households consisting of couples with children attending school.
Over a third (36%) of respondents used a Council leisure facility (excluding a pool) at least once a week over the last 12 months while slightly more than a fifth (22%) of respondents did not use a Council leisure facility at all over the last 12 months. Nearly one in three (31%) respondents used a Council swimming pool at least once a week in the last 12 months. However a similar proportion (32%) didn’t use a Council pool at all in the last 12 months. More than a third (36%) of respondents have not used a Council public toilet in the last 12 months but approximately one in eight respondents (13%) used a Council public toilet at least once a week in the last 12 months.
Over half of respondents (55%) did not use a Council Customer Service Centre in the last 12 months. Meanwhile one in twenty (5%) used a Council Customer Service Centre at least once a fortnight and one in eight (13%) used a Council Customer Service Centre at least once a month. Four out of five respondents (81%) or members of their family do not receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services.
Half of respondents were aged 35 to 54 years (50.4%) This signifies an over representation of the actual proportion of South Ayrshire residents that age. There was an under representation of people aged 16 to 24 and older people aged 55 and over.
Respondents from six neighbourhoods were over represented particularly from Prestwick West which had more than three times the actual proportion of its over 16 population. One in 25 respondents (4%) indicated they live outside South Ayrshire. Over represented neighbourhoods were: Alloway & Doonfoot, Girvan, Holmston & Forehill, Prestwick East, Prestwick West, and Troon.
3 OVERALL SAVINGS PROPOSALS Eight out of ten people disagree or strongly disagree with the savings proposals. Seven out of ten people would accept additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided. Six out of ten people disagree or strongly disagree with closing some facilities in order to protect and develop others.
3 of 92 4 SURVEY RESULTS SUMMARY 4.1 Overall Savings Proposals
Part A Question Largest Response Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings 80.5% - Combined disagree or strongly proposals? disagree
Why? 1,998 free text comments – see page 58
Q2a I would accept additional charges for some services to 68.8% - Combined agree or strongly agree protect the level of service provided. Q2b I would accept the Council closing some facilities e.g. 59.7% - Combined disagree or strongly leisure facility, recycling centre, in order to protect and disagree develop others. Q3 Do you have any suggestions for how the Council could work with you or your community to minimise the impact of 1,384 free text comments – see page 64 the savings proposals? Q4 Do you have any suggestions for how the Council could minimise the impact of the proposed savings on a particular 1,066 free text comments – see page 69 group? Q5 Do you have any suggestions for alternative ways the 1,392 free text comments – see page 73 Council could potentially make the necessary savings? 4.2 About the Respondent
About the Respondent Largest Response Q6 How often have you used a Council leisure facility 23.2% - 1-2 times per week (excluding pool) in the last 12 months? 22.2% - Never Q7 How often have you used a Council swimming pool in 32.0% - Never the last 12 months? Q8 How often have you used Council public toilets in the 35.5% - Never last 12 months? Q9 How often have you attended a Council Customer 54.7% - Never Service Centre in the last 12 months? Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive 81.0% - No any Health and Social Care Partnership services? 25.7% - 35 to 44 years, Q11 How old are you? 24.7% - 45 to 54 years 11.6% - Alloway & Doonfoot, Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in? 10.1% - Prestwick West Q13 Which gender do you identify with? 63.7% - Female Q14 What is your ethnic group? 81.3% - White Scottish Q15 What religion, religious denomination or body do you 47.8% - Christian, belong to? 38.8% - No religion or belief 64.9% - none, Q16 Do you have any of the following conditions which have 14.1% - Long-term illness, disease or lasted, or are expected to last, at least 12 months? condition Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes 29.1% - Couple with children attending your household? school Q18 Would you like to continue with the survey? 90.9% - Yes
4 of 92 4.3 Service Closures/Reductions Proposals
Reduce funding for road surfacing and revise inspection regime Q19 How strongly do you agree/disagree to reduced 75.0% - Combined disagree or strongly funding for road surfacing and inspections? disagree Transferring Council buildings to communities Q20 How strongly do you agree/disagree that transferring 53.9% - Combined agree or strongly agree Council assets to communities is a good option for retaining assets in the community? 25.1% - Neither agree nor disagree Q21 Would you be willing to be involved in running a 67.2% - No 32.8% - Yes community facility? Review sport, leisure and golf Q22a Leisure facilities should stay open, taking into account 63.1% - Combined agree or strongly agree pressure on other Council budgets 50.9% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q22b Transfer of leisure facilities to communities is a viable 27.4% - Combined disagree or strongly option disagree Close Maybole recycling centre Q23 How often have you used Maybole recycling facility in 90.2% - Never the last 12 months? 37.4% - Neither agree nor disagree Q24 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Maybole 32.6% - Combined agree or strongly agree recycling centre should be closed? 30.0% - Combined disagree or strongly disagree Stop South Ayrshire local grant funding Q25 How strongly do you agree/disagree that the Council 37.8% - Combined agree or strongly agree should continue to provide grant funding to community groups taking into account pressure on other Council 36.3% - Combined disagree or strongly budgets? disagree Remove school crossing patrols Q26 How strongly do you agree/disagree that the Council 77.2% - Combined disagree or strongly should remove all school crossing patrols taking into disagree account pressure on other Council budgets? Close all public toilets in South Ayrshire 43.5% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q27 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should provide public toilets taking into account pressure on other 42.7% - Combined disagree or strongly Council budgets? disagree Remove outdoor learning, including Dolphin House and Duke of Edinburgh’s awards programme Q28 How strongly do you agree/disagree to the removal of outdoor learning for children including the Duke of 76.2% - Combined disagree or strongly Edinburgh’s award programme taking into account pressure disagree on other Council budgets? Stop accepting cash and cheques at Customer Service Centres Q29 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Customer 65.9% - Combined agree or strongly agree Service Centres should stop accepting cash or cheques? Close Maybole and Prestwick Customer Service Centres Q30 How strongly do you agree/disagree under used 66.4% - Combined agree or strongly agree Customer Service Centres should be closed? Q31 How often have you attended Maybole or Prestwick 86.8% - Never Customer Service Centres in the last 12 months?
5 of 92 Reduction in budget for older people’s services Q32 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a 83.4% - Combined disagree or strongly reduction in the funding and services for older people? disagree Reduction in budget for learning disability services Q33 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a 75.2% - Combined disagree or strongly reduction in the funding and services for people with a disagree learning disability? Reduction in budget for mental health services Q34 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a 78.1% - Combined disagree or strongly reduction in the funding and services for people with mental disagree health problems? Reduction in budget for services for children with disabilities Q35 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a 83.7% - Combined disagree or strongly reduction in the funding and services for children with disagree disabilities? Reduction in budget for services for people with physical disabilities Q36 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a 80.2% - Combined disagree or strongly reduction in the funding and services for people with disagree physical disabilities?
4.4 Charges/Income Proposals Q37 How strongly do you agree/disagree the fees South Ayrshire Council charges for services and facilities should 69.8% - Combined agree or strongly agree be in line with what other Councils charge? Q38 What groups of people should benefit from reduced 1,047 free text comments – see page 78 charges and why? Some specific examples of proposed increased charges are set out below. Q39 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 73.6% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for allotment rental? Q40 Have you used a Council allotment in the last 12 96.0% - No months? 53.3% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q41 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 29.4% - Combined disagree or strongly increase charges for burials and cremations? disagree 55.6% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q42 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 34.3% - Combined disagree or strongly increase charges for car parking? disagree Q43 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 64.2% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for swimming? Q44 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 66.3% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for special domestic waste uplift? Q45 Have you used the Council’s special domestic waste 75.3% - No uplift service in the last 12 months? 49.9% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q46 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 25.3% - Combined disagree or strongly increase charges for commercial general/food waste? disagree Q47 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 53.0% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for Girvan Harbour? 34.9% - Neither agree nor disagree Q48 Have you used Girvan Harbour facilities in the last 12 95.2% - No months? 6 of 92 Q49 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 61.8% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for pre-planning application advice? Q50 Have you used the Council’s pre-planning application 93.6% - No advice services in the last 12 months? Q51 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 61.1% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for roads permits and orders? Q52 Have you used a Council roads permit or order in the 96.8% - No last 12 months? Q53 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 62.6% - Combined agree or strongly agree increase charges for school meals? Q54 Have you used the Council’s school meal service in the 53.1% - No last 12 months? 52.5% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q55a The Council should increase charges for 30.0% - Combined disagree or strongly pitches/halls/school lets disagree Q55b The Council should introduce charges for garden 61.9% - Combined disagree or strongly waste collection disagree Q55c The Council should introduce charges for post 53.2% - Combined agree or strongly agree planning decision variations 32.8% - Neither agree nor disagree 39.0% - Combined disagree or strongly Q55d The Council should introduce charges for the disagree instrumental music service 33.5% - Combine agree or strongly agree Introduce new charges for parking in Council car parks that are currently free of charge 52.1% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q56 How strongly do you agree/disagree you should pay to 34.8% - Combined disagree or strongly park your vehicle at a Council car park? disagree Increase income opportunities Q57 How often have you used Council sport and leisure 45.8% - Never classes in the last 12 months? Q58a I would agree to increase the minimum period for my 48.2% - Combined agree or strongly agree direct debit membership if it keeps prices the same 42.2% - Neither agree nor disagree Q58b The Council should maximise opportunities to make full use of Council facilities for income generation e.g. for 87.5% - Combined agree or strongly agree weddings Health & Social Care Partnership - Charges/Income Q59a I would support a higher than inflation increase to 42.1% - Combined agree or strongly agree current social care charges to protect the level of service 36.6% - Combined disagree or strongly provided disagree 38.2% - Combined agree or strongly agree Q59b I would support the removal of means testing for 37.8% - Combined disagree or strongly community alarms charges disagree
Q59c I would support customers paying the full cost for 44.8% - Combined disagree or strongly meals at home and day care meals charges, with no disagree subsidy from the Partnership, to protect the service 32.5% - Combined agree or strongly agree
43.1% - Combined disagree or strongly Q59c I would support charging for further social care disagree services (e.g. day care services, equipment) 31.6% - Combined agree or strongly agree
7 of 92 4.5 Staffing Proposals
Review of staffing in a number of service areas Q60 Thinking about the services you use, where should 1,413 free text comments – see page 81 staffing levels be protected? Review of number of schools and teachers Q61a The Council should reduce teacher numbers while 75.9% - Combined disagree or strongly meeting the minimum Scottish Government requirement on disagree class sizes. Q61b School closures or mergers should be considered when an opportunity arises or there is sufficient justification 57.9% - Combined agree or strongly agree to do so.
Q61c Schools with falling numbers over a long period of 65.0% - Combined agree or strongly agree time should be merged with other schools. Reduce the numbers of school support staff, including: • reduction in the number of school assistants • removal of Home Link Service • removal of school librarians and school library assistants Q62 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should 76.5% - Combined disagree or strongly reduce in-school support staff taking into account pressure disagree on other council budgets? Q63 I have a child or children or family member who has 57.2% - No benefited from in-school support staff services?
4.6 General Budget Reduction Proposals
Reduce funding in some areas of expenditure that will have some impact on service delivery by reducing funding for: • school resources and materials • school campus cops • housing support and homelessness prevention contracts • community safety and anti-social behaviour Q64a School campus cop budget should be retained, at 45.8% - Combined agree or strongly agree existing levels taking into account pressure on other Council 31.6% - Combined disagree or strongly budgets. disagree Q64b Housing support services should be retained at 47.8% - Combined agree or strongly agree existing levels taking into account pressure on other Council 31.6% - Neither agree nor disagree budgets. Q64c Homelessness prevention contracts should be retained at existing levels taking into account pressure on 54.2% - Combined agree or strongly agree other Council budgets. Q64d Services dealing with anti-social behaviour in local communities, e.g. in town centres at night or during the 71.6% - Combined agree or strongly agree summer months at busy seaside areas, should be retained taking into account pressure on other Council budgets. Reduce funding to support events, tourism and business sector development Q65 How strongly do you agree/disagree that funding to 50.0% - Combined disagree or strongly support events and tourism should be reduced taking into disagree account pressure on other Council budgets? 32.3% - Combined agree or strongly agree
8 of 92 Q66 How strongly do you agree/disagree that funding to 37.1% - Combined agree or strongly agree support business and sector development should be 34.2% - Combined disagree or strongly reduced taking into account pressure on other Council disagree budgets? Comments on any proposal Q67 Do you have any further comments on any of the 801 free text comments - see page 85 proposals mentioned in this survey? Q68 Email addresses provided to be kept informed of 557 email addresses provided decisions related to the Council budget setting process.
9 of 92 5 ANALYSIS SUMMARY As well as the survey results to questions as summarised above, the following analysis has been carried out where it’s reasonable to assume there are links between particular questions within the survey. 5.1 Overall Savings Proposals
Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
1.3% 5.9% 7.2% 12.3% 29.1% 51.4% 80.5%
Four out of five respondents disagree or strongly disagree with the savings proposals. Importantly more than half of respondents strongly disagree with the proposals and fewer than one in ten respondents agree or strongly agree with the savings proposals.
Age of respondents, where they live and type of household they are a member of have not affected whether respondents agree or disagree with the savings proposals as the majority in each age band, neighbourhood and household type disagree with the savings proposals. It also makes no difference whether respondents receive Health & Social Care Partnership Services as the large majority of both those receiving and not receiving these services disagree with the proposed savings. See Charts 1 to 4.
Chart 1: Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Vs Q11 How old are you?
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Chart 2: Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Chart 3: Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
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Chart 4: Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health & Social Care Partnership services?
Q2a How strongly do you agree or disagree with I would accept additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
19.1% 49.7% 68.8% 11.1% 10.7% 9.4% 20.1% Q2b How strongly do you agree or disagree with I would accept the Council closing some facilities in order to protect and develop others? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 5.0% 24.2% 29.2% 11.1% 30.1% 29.6% 59.7%
Over two thirds of respondents (68.8%) agree or strongly agree with accepting additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided. This is regardless of where a respondent lives or the household category they live in. See Charts 5 and 6. However, three out of five (59.7%) disagree or strongly disagree to accepting the Council closing some facilities in order to protect and develop others. In all but one neighbourhood (Dundonald & Loans) the majority of respondents have this opinion as well as respondents from all household categories. See Chart 7 and 8.
12 of 92 Regardless of whether respondents were in agreement or disagreement with the overall savings proposals most agree to accept additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided. See Chart 9. However with regard to closing some facilities to protect and develop others, those who disagree with the overall proposed savings the majority tended to also disagree with closing facilities while those who agree with proposed savings the majority tend to also agree with closing facilities to protect and develop others. See Chart 10.
Chart 5: Q2a I would accept additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided. Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Chart 6: Q2a I would accept additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided. Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household? 13 of 92
Chart 7: Q2b I would accept the Council closing some facilities in order to protect and develop others. Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Chart 8: Q2b I would accept the Council closing some facilities in order to protect and develop others. Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
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Chart 9: Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Vs Q2a I would accept additional charges for some services to protect the level of service provided.
Chart 10: Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Vs Q2b I would accept the Council closing some facilities, e.g. leisure facility, recycling centre, in order to protect and develop others. 15 of 92
5.2 Service Closures/Reductions
Q19 How strongly do you agree/disagree to reduced funding for road surfacing and inspections?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
2.7% 12.6% 15.2% 9.8% 29.5% 45.5% 75.0%
Three quarters of respondents (75%) disagree or strongly disagree with reducing funding for road surfacing and revised inspection regime. There were many comments about the already poor state of South Ayrshire roads.
Q20 How strongly do you agree/disagree that transferring Council assets to communities is a good option for retaining assets in the community? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
15.1% 38.8% 53.9% 25.1% 12.6% 8.4% 21.0%
Over half of respondents (53.9%) indicated that transferring Council assets to communities is a good option for retaining assets in the community. However only one third (32.8%) of respondents indicated they would be willing to be involved in running a community facility. Less than half of those that said they agree or strongly agree with transferring Council assets to communities would also be willing to be involved in running a community facility. Maybole was the only neighbourhood where more respondents are willing rather than not willing to be involved in running a community facility.
16 of 92 Chart 11: Q20 How strongly do you agree/disagree that transferring Council assets to communities is a good option for retaining assets in the community? Vs Q21 Would you be willing to be involved in running a community facility?
Q22a How strongly do you agree/disagree with leisure facilities should stay open?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 29.7% 33.4% 63.1% 15.2% 14.7% 7.0% 21.7%
Almost two thirds of respondents (63.1%) agree or strongly agree that leisure facilities should stay open. Generally the more frequent a respondent used a Council leisure facility (excluding pool) in the last 12 months the more likely they are to agree or strongly agree leisure facilities should stay open, although the majority of respondents that hadn’t used a Council leisure facility at all also agreed these facilities should stay open.
Chart 12: Q22a How strongly do you agree/disagree that leisure facilities should stay open? Vs Q6 How often have you used a Council leisure facility (excluding pool) in the last 12 months?
Also the more frequently a respondent used a Council swimming pool in the last 12 months the more likely they are to agree or strongly agree that leisure facilities should stay open. Again even those who had never used a Council swimming pool in the last 12 months also agreed or strongly agreed that leisure facilities should stay open.
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Chart 13: Q22a How strongly do you agree/disagree that leisure facilities should stay open? Vs Q7 How often have you used a Council swimming pool in the last 12 months?
One of the most controversial issues in the free text comments is the possible closure of Prestwick swimming pool. Most, if not all, comments about the pool reflect the unhappiness and disagreement with the possible closure. Letters and notes have been received from individuals explaining how beneficial the pool is to their health and how much pleasure they get from using it and the other facilities at the pool facility. Letters from Ayr Action for Mental Health, Enable Ayr & District and South Ayrshire Youth Forum specifically state their disappointment with the possible closure of Prestwick pool and explain how the pool gives their groups healthy exercise and improves their self-esteem but also why for logistical reasons Prestwick pool suits them better than other pools.
There were also three separate petitions to “Save Prestwick Pool” received. These contained in total over 9,500 names or signatures of people mostly located in the local area and across Scotland but also the wider United Kingdom and a few from across the world like Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the USA.
Q22b How strongly do you agree/disagree transfer leisure facilities to communities is a viable option? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
9.9% 40.9% 50.9% 21.8% 17.4% 10.0% 27.4%
Just over half of respondents (50.9%) agree or strongly agree with the transfer of leisure facilities to communities is a viable option while just over a quarter disagree or strongly disagree.
18 of 92 Q24 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Maybole recycling centre should be closed?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
12.1% 20.5% 32.6% 37.4% 17.2% 12.8% 30.0%
Opinion on the closure of Maybole recycling centre was evenly divided with just over a third of respondents (37.4%) having no opinion, a third (32.6%) agree or strongly agree to the closure and the remaining 30% disagree or strongly disagree. Almost 90% of respondents have not used Maybole recycling centre in the last 12 months. Three quarters (75.5%) of those that have used Maybole recycling centre at all regardless of how often disagree or strongly disagree with the closure of the centre and only one in eight (13%) users agree to the closure. Of those that never used Maybole recycle centre in the last 12 months, a quarter of them (24.6%) disagrees or strongly disagrees and approximately a third (35.1%) agree or strongly agree.
Chart 14: Q24 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Maybole recycling centre should be closed? Vs Q23 How often have you used Maybole recycling facility in the last 12 months?
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Chart 15: Q24 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Maybole recycling centre should be closed? Vs Q23 How often have you used Maybole recycling facility in the last 12 months?
The majority of respondents from eight neighbourhoods disagree with the closure of Maybole recycling centre. They were Belmont, Girvan, Holmston & Forehill, Maybole, Muirhead, North Carrick Villages, South Carrick Villages and Symington. Maybole had the greatest opposition with four out of five respondents (81.3%) from Maybole disagreeing with the recycling centres proposed closure.
Chart 16: Q24 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Maybole recycling centre should be closed? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
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Q25 How strongly do you agree/disagree that the Council should continue to provide grant funding to community groups? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
12.6% 25.2% 37.8% 25.9% 23.9% 12.4% 36.3%
There was divided opinion on whether the Council should provide local grant funding with almost equal portions of respondents agreeing or disagreeing with this proposal. There’s also a reasonably large portion of respondents (25.9%) who had no opinion.
Q26 How strongly do you agree/disagree that the Council should remove all school crossing patrols?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
5.6% 10.2% 15.8% 7.0% 22.5% 54.7% 77.2%
More than three quarters of respondents (77.2%) disagree or strongly disagree with the Council removing all school crossing patrols. Very similar opinions were held by respondents from all household types and every neighbourhood. This is a very controversial proposal with many free text comments received expressing their unhappiness and that introduction of this proposal could lead to increased traffic around schools and more importantly children safety will be at risk with a child being badly injured or killed.
Chart 17: Q26 How strongly do you agree/disagree that the Council should remove all school crossing patrols? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
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Chart 18: Q26 How strongly do you agree/disagree that the Council should remove all school crossing patrols? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Q27 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should provide public toilets?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 20.4% 23.15 43.5% 13.8% 21.1% 21.6% 42.7%
Opinion is split regarding whether the Council should provide public toilets or not (43.5% vs 42.7%). For every level of frequency of use opinion is also divided. However, generally those that use Council toilets generally tend to slightly favour the Council providing public toilets.
However there are some definite different opinions depending on the neighbourhood the respondent lives in. Respondents from 10 of the 24 South Ayrshire neighbourhoods agree or strongly agree the Council should provide public toilets while respondents from nine neighbourhoods disagree or strongly disagree. Five neighbourhoods were equally divided and respondents from outside South Ayrshire agree or strongly agree public toilets should be provided. One in seven of all respondents couldn’t decide. Most of the differences in neighbourhoods are not large but there are a few where there is a discernable difference e.g. Holmston & Forehill, Muirhead and North Carrick Villages.
In relation to the total number of responses to this question there are very few from outside South Ayrshire. However, if responses from those living outside of South Ayrshire are excluded then the proportion of South Ayrshire respondents who agree the Council should provide public toilets is still very slightly higher (43.5% v 42.9%) than those who disagree.
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Chart 19: Q27 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should provide public toilets? Vs Q8 How often have you used council public toilets in the last 12 month?
Chart 20: Q27 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should provide public toilets? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
23 of 92 There was also slightly divided opinion depending on how old a respondent is. Those respondents aged 18 to 24, 35 to 44, 45 to 54 and 65 to 74 years disagree or strongly disagree the Council should provide public toilets. Those aged 16 to 17, 25 to 34, 55 to 64 and 75 years or over agree or strongly agree with Council providing public toilets. The young and the old age bands have the largest difference between those that agree and those that disagree in relation to the number of respondents of that age band.
Chart 21: Q27 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should provide public toilets? Vs Q11 How old are you?
An email was received from the Friends of Fullarton representing Troon Allotment Society, Fullarton Fairy Trail, Troon Easter Egg Hunt, Horse Riding Community, Fullarton Courtyard Residents Association, Marr Rugby Club and Troon Petanque Club expressing their opposition to the possible closure of the Fullarton Woods Toilet Block.
Many free text comments have been received about this proposal with people voicing their opposition to it. Many believe the coastal towns of South Ayrshire that attract many visitors should have public toilets available and many people say they would gladly pay to use Council provided public toilets. Some also say they have health conditions that would prevent them leaving their residence if these types of public conveniences were not available for them to use.
24 of 92 Q28 How strongly do you agree/disagree to the remove of outdoor learning for children including the Duke of Edinburgh’s award programme Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
5.7% 8.3% 14.0% 9.8% 21.5% 54.8% 76.3%
Three quarters of respondents (76.3%) disagree or strongly disagree to the removal of outdoor learning including Dolphin House and the Duke of Edinburgh’s award programme. This is emphasised by more than half strongly disagreeing. Analysis shows the majority of respondents from each household type disagree or strongly disagree with the removal of outdoor learning.
Chart 22: Q26 How strongly do you agree/disagree to the removal of outdoor learning for children? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
One of the most controversial proposals with many unhappy free text comments received voicing disagreement with this proposal. Letters and notes have been received from individuals as well as a letter from the Director of Duke of Edinburgh Scotland stressing the importance of the programme to young people and how the delivery of the programme in “South Ayrshire is a beacon of practice for other authorities to follow and has been for at least a decade”. Letters were also received from the South Ayrshire Youth Forum, Primary 7 pupils from Kingcase Primary school and Belmont Academy Parent Council expressing how important both these outdoor learning experiences, Dolphin House and Duke of Edinburgh Award, are to South Ayrshire’s young people.
25 of 92 Q29 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Customer Service Centres should stop accepting cash or cheques? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
36.0% 29.9% 65.9% 18.5% 8.4% 7.2% 15.6%
Two thirds of respondents (65.9%) agree or strongly agree that Customer Service Centres should stop accepting cash and cheques. Note that over half of respondents have not used a Customer Service Centre in the last 12 months and another third use them less than once a month. Unsurprisingly the more often a respondent uses a Customer Service Centre the more likely they are to disagree or strongly disagree and the less often a respondent uses the centres the more likely they are to agree or strongly agree with stopping acceptance of cash and cheques but nevertheless it’s only the daily users (and there were less than five) that have a majority that disagree. The majority of respondents in all age bands agree or strongly agree with Customer Service Centres stopping accepting cash and cheques.
Chart 23: Q29 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Customer Service Centres should stop accepting cash or cheques? Vs Q9 How often have you attended a Council Customer Service Centre in the last 12 months?
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Chart 24: Q29 How strongly do you agree/disagree that Customer Service Centres should stop accepting cash or cheques? Vs Q11 How old are you?
Q30 How strongly do you agree/disagree under used Customer Service Centres should be closed?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 31.2% 35.2% 66.4% 21.1% 7.8% 4.8% 12.6%
Two thirds of respondents (66.4%) agree or strongly agree with closing under used Customer Service Centres. It made no difference which neighbourhood respondents live in as the majority in all neighbourhoods agree or strongly agree with closing under used Customer Service Centres.
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Chart 25: Q30 How strongly do you agree/disagree under used Customer Service Centres should be closed? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Chart 26: Q30 How strongly do you agree/disagree under used Customer Service Centres should be closed? Vs Q9 How often have you attended a Council Customer Service Centre in the last 12 months?
Only the majority of those who used a Customer Service Centre daily or 3 to 5 times a week in the last 12 months strongly disagree with the proposal that under used centres should be closed. 28 of 92
Note that nine out of ten respondents did not use the Maybole or Prestwick Customer Service Centres in the last 12 months. The more often a respondent used Maybole and Prestwick Customer Service Centres the more likely they were to disagree or strongly disagree and the less often a respondent used these Centres the more likely they were to agree or strongly agree with closing the centres. If those respondents who didn’t use Maybole and Prestwick Customer Service Centres in the last 12 months are excluded then there are similar proportions but slightly more of those that disagree or strongly disagree than those that agree or strongly agree.
Q30 Close under used Customer Service Centres – Excluding those that haven’t used Maybole or Prestwick CSCs in the last 12 months
Combined agree or Neither agree Combined disagree or strongly agree nor disagree strongly disagree 37.1% 24.3% 38.6%
Chart 27: Q30 How strongly do you agree/disagree under used Customer Service Centres should be closed? Vs Q31 How often have you attended Maybole or Prestwick Customer Service Centres in the last 12 months?
29 of 92 Q32 – Q36 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services of Social Care Budgets Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
1.7% - 2.7% 4.3% - 6.7% 6.1%-11.1% 7.5%-13.7% 29.6%-34.3% 44.4%-53.8% 75.2%-83.7%
More than three quarters of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with reductions in each of the Health & Social Care budgets for: Older peoples services Learning disability services Mental health services Children with disabilities services People with physical disabilities services
For the reduction in budget for older people’s services proposal it made no difference what age group the respondent belonged to or whether they or a member of their family receives H&SCP services, or whether they suffer from a health condition or not – the majority of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with this proposal.
Chart 28: Q32 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for older people? Vs Q11 How old are you?
30 of 92 Chart 29: Q32 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for older people? Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
Chart 30: Q32 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for older people? Vs Q16 Do you have any of the following conditions which have lasted, or are expected to last, at least 12 months?
For the reduction in budget for learning disability services proposal it made no difference whether respondents or a member of their family receives H&SCP services or whether they suffer from a health condition or not, in particular a learning disability – the majority of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with this proposal.
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Chart 31: Q33 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for people with a learning disability? Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
For the reduction in budget for mental health services proposal it made no difference whether respondents or a member of their family received H&SCP services or whether they suffer from a health condition or not, in particular a mental health condition – the majority of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with this proposal.
Chart 32: Q34 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for people with mental health problems? Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
32 of 92 For the reduction in budget for children with disabilities proposal it made no difference whether respondents or a member of their family received H&SCP services or whether they suffer from a health condition or not or what type of household they live in – the majority of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with this proposal.
Chart 33: Q35 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for children with disabilities? Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
For the reduction in budget for people with physical disabilities proposal it made no difference whether respondents or a member of their family received H&SCP services or whether they suffer from a health condition or not, in particular a physical disability – the majority of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with this proposal.
Chart 34: Q36 How strongly do you agree/disagree in supporting a reduction in the funding and services for people with physical disabilities? Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
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5.3 Charges/Income Q37 How strongly do you agree/disagree the fees South Ayrshire charges for services and facilities should be in line with what other Councils charge? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
25.3% 44.5% 69.8% 15.9% 7.9% 6.4% 14.3%
Seven out of ten respondents (69.8%) agree or strongly agree the fees South Ayrshire charges for services and facilities should be in line with what other Councils charge?
Q39 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for allotment rental?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 35.6% 38.0% 73.6% 17.6% 4.9% 3.9% 8.8%
Three quarters of respondents (73.6%) agree or strongly agree the council should increase charges for allotment rentals. Three quarters of those that haven’t used a Council allotment in the last 12 months agree or strongly agree with increasing charges but also the majority of respondents who have used a Council allotment in the last 12 months also agree or strongly agree to increasing the charges.
Chart 35: Q39 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for allotment rental? Vs Q40 Have you used a Council allotment in the last 12 months?
34 of 92 Q41 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for burials and cremations? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
19.0% 34.3% 53.3% 17.3% 13.9% 15.5% 29.4% More than half of respondents (53.3%) agree or strongly agree with increased charges for burials and cremation and less than a third disagree or strongly disagree.
Q42 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for car parking?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 21.1% 34.4% 55.6% 10.2% 14.9% 19.3% 34.3% More than half of respondents (55.6%) agree or strongly agree with increased car parking charges and a third disagree or strongly disagree.
Q43 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for swimming?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
24.2% 40.0% 64.2% 11.4% 11.9% 12.5% 24.4% Two thirds of respondents (64.2%) agree or strongly agree with increasing charges for swimming. Regardless of how often a respondent has used a Council swimming in the last 12 months the majority of respondents agree or strongly agree with increasing charges for swimming.
Chart 36: Q43 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for swimming? Vs Q7 How often have you used a Council swimming pool in the last 12 months?
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Q44 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for special domestic waste uplift? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
25.2% 41.2% 66.3% 12.1% 11.2% 10.4% 21.6%
Two thirds (66.3%) respondents agree or strongly agree to increasing charges for special domestic waste uplift. The majority agree regardless of whether they have used the Council’s special domestic waste uplift service or not in the last 12 months.
Chart 37: Q44 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for special domestic waste uplift? Vs Q45 Have you used the Council’s special domestic waste uplift service in the last 12 months?
Q46 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for commercial general/food waste? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
19.3% 30.7% 49.9% 24.8% 14.6% 10.7% 25.3%
Half of respondents (49.9%) agree or strongly agree with increased charges for commercial general/food waste while a quarter of respondent disagree or strongly disagree.
36 of 92 Q47 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for Girvan Harbour?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
22.5% 30.5% 53.0% 34.9% 7.4% 4.7% 12.1%
Over half of respondents (53%) agree or strongly agree to increasing charges for Girvan Harbour while a third (34.9%) had no opinion. Note that over 90% of respondents did not use the harbour facilities in the last 12 months. Nevertheless of the few that did use the harbour facilities a third disagree or strongly disagree but more than half agree or strongly agree to increasing charges.
Chart 38: Q47 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for Girvan Harbour? Vs Q48 Have you used Girvan Harbour in the last 12 months?
37 of 92 Q49 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for pre-planning application advice? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
24.5% 37.4% 61.8% 25.0% 7.7% 5.5% 13.1%
Three fifths of respondents (61.8%) agree or strongly agree with an increase in charges for pre- planning application advice. Less than 10% of respondents actually used the service in the last 12 months. Nevertheless nearly two thirds of those that did use the service also agree or strongly agree with an increase in charges.
Chart 39: Q49 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for pre-planning application advice? Vs Q50 Have you used the Council’s pre-planning application advice services in the last 12 months?
38 of 92 Q51 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for Council roads permits or orders? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
26.4% 34.7% 61.1% 27.6% 7.4% 4.0% 11.4%
Three fifths of respondents (61.1%) agree or strongly agree with an increase in charges for road permits or orders. Less than 5% of respondents actually used a Council road permit or order in the last 12 months but nearly three quarters of those that did use a permit also agree or strongly agree with an increase in charges.
Chart 40: Q51 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for roads permits and orders? Vs Q52 Have you used a Council roads permit or order in the last 12 months?
Q53 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for school meals?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
23.6% 39.0% 62.6% 10.2% 11.7% 15.5% 27.2%
Nearly two thirds of respondents (62.6%) agree or strongly agree with an increase in charges for school meals. There are more respondents who have not used (53.1%) rather than used school meals in the last 12 months but twice as many of those that have used school meals in the last 12 months agree or strongly agree with increasing charges than those that disagree or strongly disagree. The majority of respondents from all household types agree to increased charges for school meals.
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Chart 41: Q53 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for school meals? Vs Q54 Have you used the Council’s school meal service in the last 12 months?
Chart 42: Q53 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for school meals? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
40 of 92 Q55a How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for pitches/halls/school lets? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
14.5% 38.0% 52.5% 17.5% 19.4% 10.6% 30.0%
Over half of respondents (52.5%) agree or strongly agree with an increase in charges for pitches/halls/school lets while less than a third (30.0%) disagree or strongly disagree.
Regardless of how often a respondent uses Council leisure facilities the majority for each frequency level agree with an increase.
Regardless of the type of household the respondent lives in, the majority from all household types agree or strongly agree with the increase in charges for pitches/hall/school lets.
Chart 43: Q55a How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for pitches/halls/school lets? Vs Q6 How often have you used a Council leisure facility (excluding pool) in the last 12 months?
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Chart 44: Q55a How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should increase charges for pitches/halls/school lets? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
Q55b How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should introduce charges for garden waste collection? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
6.1% 19.3% 25.4% 12.7% 34.9% 27.0% 61.9%
Three out of five respondents (61.9%) disagree or strongly disagree with introducing charges for garden waste collection while a quarter of respondents (25.4%) agree or strongly agree.
Q55c How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should introduce charges for post planning decision variations? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 15.6% 37.6% 53.2% 32.8% 8.8% 5.2% 14.0%
More than half of respondents (53.2%) agree or strongly agree with introducing charges for post planning decision variations while a third of respondents (32.8%) had no opinion.
42 of 92 Q55d How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should introduce charges for the instrumental music service? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
10.7% 22.8% 33.5% 27.5% 19.7% 19.3% 39.0%
This proposal has divided opinion with over a third of respondents (39.0%) disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the introduction of charges for the instrumental music service while a third (33.5%) agree or strongly agree.
The majority of respondents from the following household categories disagree or strongly disagree with introducing charges for the instrumental music service: Couple with children attending school Couple with children who are not living at home Couple without children Lone parent with dependents living at home Lone parent with children attending school Pensioner couple.
Those households that the majority agree to introducing these charges are Couple with dependents living at home, Lone parent with children who are not living at home, and Single person under pension age.
The majority of single pensioner households were undecided.
Chart 45: Q55d How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should introduce charges for the instrumental music service? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
A paper briefing for Councillors was received from the Educational Institute of Scotland EIS) on ‘Music In Schools’ as a means to update councillors on the provision of music in schools, particularly Instrumental music lessons. There was also a letter from the South Ayrshire Youth Forum worried that a large number of young people will miss out on the pleasure of playing music if instrumental charges are introduced 43 of 92
Q56 How strongly do you agree/disagree you should pay to park your vehicle at a Council car park?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
16.6% 35.5% 52.1% 13.1% 17.2% 17.6% 34.8%
More than half of respondents (52.1%) agree or strongly agree with introducing charges for Council car parks that are currently free of charge while a third of respondents (34.8%) disagree or strongly disagree.
Q58a How strongly do you agree/disagree I would agree to increase the minimum period for my direct debit membership if it keeps prices the same? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
14.9% 33.3% 48.2% 42.2% 5.7% 3.9% 9.6%
Almost half of respondents (48.2%) agree or strongly agree with increasing the minimum period of their direct debit membership if it kept prices the same. Only one in ten (9.6%) disagreed or strongly disagreed and the remainder had no opinion. The number of times respondents used Council sport and leisure classes in the last 12 months had little effect as the majority within each usage level agree or strongly agree with increasing the minimum period for direct debit membership.
Chart 46: Q58 I would agree to increase the minimum period for my direct debit membership if it keeps prices the same vs Q57 How often have you used Council sport and leisure classes in the last 12 months?
44 of 92 Q58b How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should maximise opportunities to make full use of Council facilities for income generation? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
46.0% 41.6% 87.5% 10.6% 0.6% 1.3% 1.9%
Almost nine out of ten respondents (87.5%) agree or strongly agree the Council should maximise opportunities to make full use of Council facilities for income generation while only one in fifty respondents (1.9%) disagree or strongly disagree.
Q59a How strongly do you agree/disagree I would support a higher than inflation increase to current social care charges to protect the level of service provided? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 11.1% 31.0% 42.1% 21.4% 24.8% 11.8% 36.6%
This proposal divided opinion with slightly more in agreement (42.1%) to a higher than inflation increase to current social care charges to protect the level of service provided than disagreement (36.6%). Note that four out of five respondents or members of their family do not receive H&SCP services. Bearing that in mind, the majority of those that do not receive these services agree or strongly agree with the proposal but the majority of those that do receive H&SCP services disagree or strongly disagree with a higher than inflation increase to current social care charges.
Chart 47: Q59a How strongly do you agree/disagree with I would support a higher than inflation increase to current social care charges to protect the level of service provided Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
45 of 92 Q59b How strongly do you agree/disagree I would support the remove of means testing for community alarms charges? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
12.3% 26.0% 38.2% 24.0% 24.7% 13.2% 37.8%
This proposal divided opinion evenly with very slightly more in agreement (38.2%) to removal of means testing for community alarms charges than disagreement (37.8%). Note that four out of five respondents or members of their family do not receive H&SCP services. Bearing that in mind, the opinions are very much evenly divided regardless of whether respondents receive H&SCP services or not.
Chart 48: Q59b How strongly do you agree/disagree with I would support the removal of means testing for community alarms charges Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
46 of 92 Q59c How strongly do you agree/disagree I would support customers paying the full cost for meals at home and day care meals charges, with no subsidy from the Partnership, to protect the service? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
9.3% 23.2% 32.5% 22.7% 30.5% 14.3% 44.8%
More than four out of ten respondents (44.8%) disagree or strongly disagree with customers paying the full cost for meals at home and day care meals charges to protect the service while a third (32.5%) agree or strongly agree. Regardless of whether respondents are in receipt of H&SCP services or not, the majority of both users and non-users were in disagreement with this proposal.
Chart 49: Q59c How strongly do you agree/disagree with I would support customers paying the full cost for meals at home and day care meals charges, with no subsidy from the Partnership, to protect the service Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services?
47 of 92 Q59d How strongly do you agree/disagree I would support charging for further social care services?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
8.1% 23.5% 31.6% 25.3% 27.5% 15.7% 43.1%
More than four out of ten respondents (43.1%) disagree or strongly disagree with charging for further social care services. Regardless of whether respondents are in receipt of H&SCP services or not, the majority of both users and non-users were in disagreement with this proposal.
Chart 50: Q59d How strongly do you agree/disagree with I would support charging for further social care services Vs Q10 Do you or any of your family members currently receive any Health and Social Care Partnership services? 5.4 Staffing Education in general but in particular the reduction of the number of teachers and in-school support staff are very controversial issues with many free text comments reflecting disagreement with the possible reduction of these staff as a savings proposal and how these proposed cuts go against the Scottish Government’s focus on closing the attainment gap. Letters were received from the chair of Literature Alliance Scotland and the Executive Officer of the Scottish Library & Information Council, and also the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) who overall state their concern and opposition to the proposal to remove school librarians and school library assistants and the important role they play in raising literacy levels across Scotland.
A letter was also received from the South Ayrshire Youth Forum about their concern of cuts to Education but in particular their biggest worry was the proposal to cut school librarians who play an important role in providing essential support to young people.
48 of 92 A Prestwick Academy School Library Petition was received stating student concern about the proposed savings and how important the school library is to them. There were more than 40 hand written names, postcodes and signatures of students from Prestwick Academy. There were also two letters accompanying the petition from students addressed to Councillors stating how important and beneficial their school library is to them for their education and asking not to take away school libraries.
There was also a letter from the Belmont Academy Parent Council covering a number of issues on how their school will be affected by the proposed savings. These include explaining how the library is a vital resource to their school and how a librarian can assist in improving literacy and digital literacy skills. Their most vulnerable children will be affected by any reductions in specialist support assistant and teaching posts and how school assistants are invaluable assisting children with additional support needs. The Parent Council also was concerned that reducing the number of teaching staff will impact on what can be delivered to students and will reduce their creativity.
Q61a How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should reduce teacher numbers while meeting the minimum Scottish Government requirement on class sizes? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 4.6% 12.5% 17.1% 7.1% 22.4% 53.5% 75.9%
Three quarters of respondents (75.9%) disagree or strongly disagree with reducing teacher numbers while meeting the minimum Scottish Government requirement on class sizes. The majority of respondents in all household types, but particularly in couple with children attending school households, had the same opinion of disagreeing with reducing teacher numbers.
Chart 51: Q61a The Council should reduce teacher numbers while meeting the minimum Scottish government requirement on class sizes? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
49 of 92 Q61b How strongly do you agree/disagree school closures or mergers should be considered when an opportunity arises or there is sufficient justification to do so? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
15.5% 42.4% 57.9% 12.5% 10.5% 19.2% 29.6%
Nearly three out of five respondents (57.9%) agree or strongly agree that school closures or mergers should be considered when an opportunity arises. The majority of respondents in all household types have the same opinion of agreeing with considering school closures or mergers.
Chart 52: Q61b School closures or mergers should be considered when an opportunity arises or there is sufficient justification to do so? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
50 of 92 Q61c How strongly do you agree/disagree schools with falling numbers over a long period of time should be merged with other schools? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
17.4% 47.6% 65.0% 15.9% 8.8% 10.3% 19.1%
Almost two thirds of respondents (65.0%) agree or strongly agree that schools with falling numbers over a long period of time should be merged with other schools. The majority of respondents in all household types have the same opinion of agreeing with merging schools with falling numbers.
Chart 53: Q61c Schools with falling numbers over a long period of time should be merged with other schools? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
Q62 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should reduce in-school support staff?
Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
3.6% 10.3% 13.9% 9.6% 24.8% 51.7% 76.5%
Three quarters of respondents (76.5%) disagree or strongly disagree with reducing in-school support staff. In particular over half of respondents strongly disagree. The majority of respondents in all household types, but particularly in couple with children attending school households, have the same opinion of disagreeing with reducing in-school support staff.
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Chart 54: Q62 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should reduce in- school support staff? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
Regardless of whether a respondent’s child or family member has benefited from in-school support staff services, both those who have benefitted and those that haven’t disagree or strongly disagree with reducing in-school support staff.
Chart 55: Q62 How strongly do you agree/disagree the Council should reduce in- school support staff? Vs Q63 I have a child or children or family member who has benefited from in-school support staff services?
52 of 92 5.5 General Budget Reductions Q64a How strongly do you agree/disagree the school campus cop budget should be retained at existing levels? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree 16.3% 29.6% 45.8% 22.6% 20.2% 11.4% 31.6%
Almost half of respondents (45.8%) agree or strongly agree the school campus cop budget should be retained at existing levels while nearly a third of respondents (31.6%) disagree or strongly disagree. The majority of responses from all household types except two, couple without children and single person under pension age, agree with retaining the school campus cop budget.
Chart 56: Q64a School campus cop budget should be retained at existing levels? Vs Q17 Which one of the following categories best describes your household?
However, there are differences between neighbourhoods. The majority of responses from 20 neighbourhoods agree or strongly agree while the majority from four neighbourhoods disagree or strongly disagree with retaining the school campus cop budget at existing levels. Those four neighbourhoods disagreeing are: Ayr North Harbour, Wallacetown & Newton South (39% disagree vs 34% agree); North Carrick Villages (38% vs 34%); and South Carrick Villages (38% vs 23%).
A letter was received from Belmont Academy Parent Council explaining the significant impact the campus cop has at Belmont working with children who struggle to settle in the conventional classroom setting.
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Chart 57: Q64a School campus cop budget should be retained at existing levels? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Q64b How strongly do you agree/disagree housing support services should be retained at existing levels? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
11.3% 36.5% 47.8% 31.6% 14.9% 5.7% 20.6%
Almost half of respondents (47.8%) agree or strongly agree with retaining housing support services at existing levels. Regardless of the neighbourhood where respondents live the majority from each neighbourhood agree with retaining housing support services at existing levels.
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Chart 58: Q64b Housing support services should be retained at existing levels? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Q64c How strongly do you agree/disagree homelessness prevention contracts should be retained at existing levels? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
14.7% 39.5% 54.2% 28.7% 11.4% 5.7% 17.1%
More than half of respondents (54.2%) agree or strongly agree with retaining homelessness prevention contracts at existing levels. Regardless of the neighbourhood where respondents live the majority from each neighbourhood agree with retaining homelessness prevention contracts at existing levels.
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Chart 59: Q64c Homelessness prevention contracts should be retained at existing levels? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Q64d How strongly do you agree/disagree services dealing with anti-social behaviour in local communities should be retained? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
25.4% 46.1% 71.6% 13.9% 10.1% 4.4% 14.5%
Nearly three quarters of respondents (71.6%) agree or strongly agree with retaining services dealing with anti-social behaviour in local communities. Regardless of the neighbourhood where respondents live the majority from each neighbourhood agree with retaining services dealing with anti-social behaviour services.
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Chart 60: Q64d Services dealing with anti-social behaviour in local communities should be retained? Vs Q12 What neighbourhood do you live in?
Q65 How strongly do you agree/disagree that funding to support events and tourism should be reduced? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
9.3% 23.0% 32.3% 17.7% 29.7% 20.3% 50.0%
Half of respondents (50.0%) disagree or strongly disagree with reducing funding to support events and tourism. A third of respondents (32.3%) agree or strongly agree. There were comments received with different points of view about withdrawing, reducing or continuing funding to the Scottish Ayr Show.
Q66 How strongly do you agree/disagree that funding to support business and sector development should be reduced? Combined Combined Neither Strongly Strongly disagree or Agree agree or agree nor Disagree agree disagree strongly strongly agree disagree disagree
11.1% 26.1% 37.1% 28.6% 22.3% 11.9% 34.2%
This proposal divided opinion with over a third of respondents (37.1%) who agree or strongly agree with reducing funding to support business and sector development and another third of respondents (34.2%) disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with reducing funding.
57 of 92 6 FREE TEXT COMMENT SUMMARIES 6.1 Part A Questions With such a large number of comments received for each of these questions a search on a key word or multiple key words relating to a category contained in comments is a useful way to catalogue the free text responses. The portion of comments containing any of the category key words is represented by a percentage of the total number of comments.
‘Word clouds’ have also been created from the responses to each question as visual representations of the collated comments. Each word and its size correspond to how often it appears in the answers provided by the respondents. The larger each word, the more it is referenced in the comments. Note sometimes the larger, more frequently mentioned word has no real context to the question.
Both the categorisation of comments and the creation of ‘word clouds’ help identify issues. However be aware there are more often than not opposing sides to each issue and an issue with few comments does not mean it is less important than an issue with many comments.
All free text comments have been retained and a sample of comments is provided for each free text question in this report with marked categories associated with them. They are not meant to reflect the overall sentiment of responses to questions but are merely a taster for readers.
Q1 How strongly do you agree/disagree with our savings proposals? Please tell us why you chose the option.
There were 1,998 responses with comments to this question. In very broad terms comments reflect the large majority expressing their disagreement with the savings proposals. Common themes from the comments include: Perception some staff are overpaid Top heavy management and inefficient work processes Staff terms and conditions too generous Councillor’s salary and expenses too high Council Tax increases Stop non-essential projects Cuts are aimed at services that are already severely challenged Cuts will make it impossible to achieve many local and national outcomes Road condition Cuts hit the most vulnerable individuals and communities Proposals are short sighted, will have negative long term effects and have no imagination Merge the three Ayrshire Councils together
58 of 92 Q1 Word Cloud
Nr of comments - Category Key words (or similar) in comment % of all comments1 school teacher teaching education music Education classroom classroom homelink home link library 968 - 48.5% assistant support student pupil Cuts Cut 929 - 46.5% Children & Young early children young people kids 701 - 35.1% People years disabled homeless mental vulnerable health Vulnerable 550 - 27.5% Blue Badge blind dementia activity centre leisure Muirhead pool swimming Activity Centre 448 - 22.4% Whitletts School Crossing crossing patrol lollipop 341 - 17.1% Patrols Roads pot hole road 300 - 15.0% Outdoor Learning outdoor learning Dolphin Edinburgh 256 - 12.8% Prestwick Prestwick 207 - 10.4% Economy business economy invest tourism 210 - 10.5% council Council staff management efficiency council staff 177 - 8.9% workers public Public toilets toilet 177 - 8.9% convenience fly tipping garden recycling waste refuse Waste 159 - 8.0% rubbish Council Tax council tax 116 - 5.8% Maybole Maybole 110 - 5.5% Customer Service customer cash cheque frontline front line 65 - 3.3% Centre service School meals school meals 31 - 1.6% Uncategorised 300/15.0%
1 Total of all percentages won’t add up to 100% as many comments contain more than one subject 59 of 92 Q1 Sample Comments
Activity Centre Children&YoungPeople Council staff Council tax Cuts Economy EducationOutdoor learning Public toilets Roads School crossing patrols School meals Vulnerable Waste I am appalled to most of the propose cuts within the Council in an effort to save +/-£20 million. Whilst understanding the need to make savings and economies and the constraints placed on councils by the government, it seems that we are now crossing a line and as our representative you now need to stand up for your electors. In the real world of commerce and industry we are all aware of the financial problems experienced by many businesses and individuals over the last 10 years and this includes councils. There are no job guarantees, or expected pay rises. However the government’s freeze on council tax for 10 years has left us in this position – a rough calculation of 10 years x 3% inflation – somewhere around 30% less funding from this alone. No business can survive that, and as is being demonstrated now, no council either unless they simply stop providing any services worth having. It is time for the councils to stand up to the government and say enough, we can do nothing with nothing and you are, as they are, answerable to those who elected you. These proposed cuts for South Ayrshire largely affect the more venerable in our society - children, disabled and elderly. If we don’t take proper care of our children and give them every advantage, we fail as a civilised point previously made society – they are our future, likewise if we don’t offer as much to the disabled or elderly. Closure of activity centres – ironic in the year of young people and with everyone clamouring on about obesity, exercise and fitness. Keeping people active is good for mind, body and soul and out of mischief as it gives an outlet. Is it not feasible to look at hiving off sports and leisure along with community facilities to a trust as has been successfully done elsewhere? Roads maintenance – public transport is great if it get you where you need to be and when, however, this is often not the case within South Ayrshire. The roads and drains are already in an appalling condition and faults reported take forever to be flimsily patch repaired. Reduction in school funding including special needs and care for elderly – it is amazing that anyone could propose the removal of school crossing facilities – this shows a complete lack of understanding! Have you done a school run recently? Any common sense parents may have flies out the window on the school run – I have seen total disregard for parking laws including parking over the crossing zones and on corners on both sides of the road. Whilst the drivers are stupidly irresponsible, I fear for any child trying to cross roads safely at peak times. Why not in an effort to reduce traffic and dangers try through the schools to start “walk to school” clubs encouraging those parents able to escort groups of children safely? This would tick so many boxes – fresh air, exercise, learning skills. Again, the closure of Dolphin House and stopping the Duke of Edinburgh awards disadvantages educational experiences and outside learning which helps develop more understanding and caring. Cuts to schools libraries – encouraging reading opens up a whole world of knowledge to young minds and sadly, many aren’t encouraged to read at home. Stopping local grant funding, closure of public toilets, reduced event and tourism funding etc. – go for it as Ayr certainly has become such a dirty, empty town now, it is shameful to try to attract people here! I could go on but there must be other ideas it is possible to explore accepting that savings and alternative funding must be found. The Council’s job is to provide a decent level of service to the community in environment and infrastructure as well as being guardians of their assets. Like any business, it should look to itself for savings and streamlining – what buildings require expensive repairs and maintenance and are superfluous to actual requirements? Employees should not have an automatic exemption in this area either – they don’t in the real world of commerce and industry. Yes, make residents pay for services like parking, permits, allotments, school meals (for those who can easily afford it) etc. and after all of that, I truly believe we should be paying more council tax but for a better and more efficient service. But make the government address their funding issues too, particularly the sacred cow of NHS funding – even on a personal level I hear of so much being abused and wasted regularly. The government needs to stop wasting money on pet projects and initiatives and provide the people with decent levels of basic services at the least.
60 of 92 Activity Centre Customer Service Centres Cuts Education Maybole Prestwick Too many are proposed cuts to services that support healthy living. E.g. closing swimming pools and activity centres. Cut backs in education are an awful idea given there aren't enough teachers as it is and discipline in schools is suffering. Closing the council centres in Prestwick and Maybole seems sensible. Surely so much can be done online nowadays and encouraging payments away from cheques and cash is good, though will clearly impact on older members of society.
Activity Centre Children&YoungPeople Cuts Education Maybole Waste I have no doubt that budget cuts need to be made, but I strongly disagree with some of the cost savings you are proposing. Closure of Maybole recycling centre, will result in more fly tipping and inappropriate items being put in household bins. Fly tipping will ultimately increase costs of clearing up and be detrimental to the environment I strongly disagree with the cuts to school librarian posts. As many community libraries have closed, the support and guidance of a librarian is only available to many young people in their schools. These posts are crucial to all levels of readers within our secondary schools; recommending challenging texts to able readers, and enthusing young people who are not confident, enthusiastic by recommending texts that meet their interests and literacy level. The loss of school Librarians is short sighted and goes against the aims of improving literacy levels of our young people I also strongly disagree with cuts to D of E, outdoor education and Prestwick Swimming Pool. Funding from the government and the HSCP is trying to target the long term conditions resulting from lack of physical activity and obesity. All these areas you propose to cut can have the potential for long term saving, by setting young people on a path of more regular physical activity to result healthy lifestyles.
Activity Centre Children&YoungPeople Education School crossing patrols Vulnerable Some of these proposals would hurt the most vulnerable people in the community disproportionately: Reduction in funding for services to people with mental health issues or physical disabilities and to older people Reduction in funding for housing support and homelessness services, where the proposed reductions would release a very small proportion of the required savings but would hit the organisations delivering these services significantly, would potentially cause a failure to reach Council targets and could cost jobs. Others would restrict still further opportunities for young people in areas that could impact on their health and development. They would therefore create additional issues to confront the Council in years to come: Removal of school librarians Closure of swimming pool and activity centres In addition, the removal of school crossing patrols could actually cost young lives.
Activity Centre Children&YoungPeople Cuts Education Outdoor learning Roads Vulnerable Many of the savings are targeted at the most vulnerable people in our society. Agree with shortening opening hours at pools. Pools are essential but usage could be more concentrated. Pool closures should only be if the pool is drastically underused - learning to swim is a lifesaver and many kids who cannot walk to a pool will otherwise not get to go. Disagree with outdoor learning closures. This is an opportunity most kids will otherwise never have and is an antidote to the technology addiction currently taking over. This offers a view of a different lifestyle and supports lifelong health. In schools, a reasonable class size is essential and with the high level of teacher absence teachers are already stretched. Teachers are already covering for others who cannot deal with the demands placed on them and it has a domino effect. I originally qualified as a teacher and have 2 teacher daughters - quieter undemanding kids are often left behind, content just passes them by without adequate teacher time or an assistant. If you do cut assistants, can you promote more parent involvement to substitute? Also roads and pavements must be safe even if not pretty. The pavement outside my home is in a very bad state of disrepair and my 97 year old father who is almost blind stumbled and almost fell over it. Do you have to pay out on claims for potholes damaging cars? Would fixing them not be better all round? Do you have an adequate mechanism for people to report bad potholes in the roads - people will be quick enough to report if it’s easy for them to do it, possibly mitigating some risk if the inspection regime is reduced?
61 of 92 Activity Centre Children&YoungPeople Education Outdoor learning Public toiletsSchool crossing patrols Vulnerable I think it is outrageous that in reviewing where our budget goes, that the first place the Council has turned is to disability and mental health services. The people who need the most support, including children and elderly people, are the ones who will suffer. Mental health services in particular are already underfunded, and reducing your funding makes very little sense. We should be improving these services, not worsening them. Next, closing leisure facilities that are important to the community (such as Prestwick pool and the Whitletts and Muirhead community centres) is just bizarre. Not quite as bizarre as closing the public toilets, however. There's just no logic at all there. Lastly, stopping the Dolphin House and Duke of Edinburgh programme is a ridiculous decision. University's look for DofE awards in students, and by removing that option you are disadvantaging the children of South Ayrshire. Similarly with Dolphin House, which is a fantastic resource we should be encouraging not getting rid of. Although, it seems from the Council's proposals that schools are simply not important anymore, being that they are having their meal prices increased, their librarians, police, and classroom assistants removed, and their resources reduced. Surely education is the area that funding should be spent on! These are our children and their futures. Worst of all is the proposal to remove all crossing patrols. There is no way this is a good idea, and it is putting our children's safety at risk. Ultimately, these proposals are going to have a considerable negative impact on the children of South Ayrshire and I cannot condone it.
Cuts Education Roads School crossing patrols One of your first proposals is to cut road surfacing and inspection. Surely this is the last thing a competent Council should be doing in South Ayrshire. If you travel to Stranraer and further south it is obvious how different the road conditions are to South Ayrshire. Again, travel to East Ayrshire and the result is the same, better roads and surfaces. Why are the roads so bad in our area? The climate cannot be blamed, neither can volume of traffic. The roads are simply appalling and any move to reduce funding in this area beggars belief. We need more spent in our area not less!! Transferring Council buildings to Communities to save £72k seems strange. It doesn't seem to be worth it when you find that a Community cannot afford to run the facility locally with volunteers. People would be rightly concerned about the withdrawal of the facility. I can't believe your proposal to remove school crossing patrols is genuine. The first time a child is injured or worse, there would be a huge outcry against the Council, especially those who vote for this proposal. I hope your new parking charges would not include Hospitals. We do not want to return to the system that still occurs in England and used to apply here. Just picking the above does not mean that I agree with the rest of your proposals, far from it.
Activity Centre Children&YoungPeople Customer Service Centres Economy Education MayboleOutdoor learning Prestwick Public toilets Roads School crossing patrols Waste Many of the proposals have a major impact on our young people 1) School Patrols 2) Closing swimming pools - we are a coastal resort with lots of rivers in the community and no facilities for them to learn how to swim, 3) Closing the Dolphin House 4) Support for DofE participants to mention but a few Stopping brown bin collections - what are people, especially the elderly, supposed to do with their garden waste? Closing Toilets - great, how about facilities for visitors to our towns, and for that matter our residents. Closing Maybole & Prestwick Customer Services facilities - would be interesting to know what the usage of these facilities actually is. Stopping the acceptance of cash and cheques at Customer Service Facilities - I appreciate that it is added task to balance takings at the end of the day - I don't know about Maybole, but Prestwick is down to one bank and a post office in March. To make a payment at the post office, one needs a pay-in book - the elderly, who I suspect are one of the main users of the facilities are unlikely to have a pay-in book for their account - I certainly don't and have to travel to Ayr to conduct bank business. Charging for car parks which are currently free - how much of an income will that make against the cost on implementing and maintaining, and of course patrolling the car park to locate people that have not paid. Maintenance of roads - this could to be a total oversight with the prospect of claims for damages to cars as a result of lack of maintenance. I cannot help feeling that wrong materials are used in the patching process. Other countries in Europe don't seem to have the problems we do. There are some facilities that apparently the Council provides such as emergency alarms for people that could be funded by the families. When I was in that situation, I arranged my own system with a pager so neighbours and friends could contact me regardless of where I was and I knew who was calling. Self-funded but worthwhile as it did save his life in one instance. 62 of 92
Council staff Cuts Public toilets School crossing patrols Vulnerable South Ayrshire Council need to take a better look at balancing the budget for the whole of South Ayrshire, There are vital services that need to be retained, Public Toilets and Lollipop men/ladies are two such items which should definitely be retained, South Ayrshire Council needs to look upon itself as a Private Sector Company not Public Sector which of course it is. If South Ayrshire were privately owned, the need is to still provide the same facilities but cut costs elsewhere. One of these savings as is with Private Customers is to cut in house costs while still providing external services One way of doing this is to cut everyone's hours by 1 hour per week right across the board in the office situation. From the Head of South Ayrshire Council right down to the clerical staff. This would save loads. Private firms such as Morrisons and Tesco's are cutting out middle management staff and also when a person leaves a department through early retirement or on the grounds of ill health. These positions are not re-filled. Home Helps and Support workers are still vitally needed to provide the same service as they provide an essential service to the public. It seems that South Ayrshire council are prepared to cut essential services to ensure that council employed staff are kept in jobs at the expense of services to the community. This is not on.
Children&YoungPeople Education Maybole Roads School crossing patrols There is no way that children should be crossing roads to schools on their own, especially in winter. The way people are driving to avoid all the pot holes. i.e. wrong side of the road going round corners is going to cause a fatality!!!! If you take away leisure services from Maybole, Whitletts you are only going to cause more problems with the youth of these communities as there is nothing for them already.... Try taking away flowers and hanging baskets, pots and planters, infrastructure needs addressing roads, buildings etc. Before trying to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, try reducing or not having extortionate consultation fees and instead get some people on the council who can make sensible decisions, i.e. no ripping up very expensive cycle routes as they wouldn’t have been put on that road in the 1st place if common sense had prevailed.
Children&YoungPeople Education Outdoor learning Vulnerable 1) SAC Local Grant Funding £69,000 - this localised funding is often the only way small community lead groups can survive. The events themselves help cement communities and partnerships are built; to take this away will lead to the dissolution of already fractured communities. 2) Duke of Edinburgh - this facility can be life changing for young people especially those who are perhaps more academically challenged. Also, for those children from a lower economic background, opportunities i.e. expedition are not common place and this is a real equaliser for all who join. It would also give children applying for college/university an unfair advantage as this is often looked for, in addition to qualifications. 3) Reduction - Older People's Services - with an ever increasing population, how can the council justify decreasing the funding? By 2020, there will be double the amount of people living with dementia and unless facilities are put in place now there will be nothing for them. 4) Mental Health - once again for the elderly, specifically for those with dementia, there will be MORE need for services. The Mental Health Teams are already strained with referrals to CAMHS being a least a year before initial appointment. 5) School librarians - This is profession - not a nice to have. Literacy is decreasing and with more screen time and social media used in schools it is important that TRAINED people are employed. 6) Schools/Teachers/Support - Teachers are already under tremendous strain, especially with the lack of classroom support. Reduction in monies will lead to a decline in standards.
63 of 92 Q3 Do you have any suggestions for how the Council could work with you or your community to minimise the impact of the savings proposals?
There were 1,384 comments to this question. There were many useful suggestions on how the Council could work with people or their community to minimise the impact of the savings proposals but also many comments about grievances with the savings proposals.
Q3 Word Cloud
Nr of comments - Category Key words (or similar) in comment % of all comments2 Community community 326 - 23.6% Services service 314 - 22.7% Cut/Stop cut stop sell off 317 - 22.9% Leisure facilities leisure facilities swimming pool golf 179 - 12.9% fly tipping garden recycling waste rubbish Waste 146 - 10.6% refuse council Council staff management efficiency council staff 145 - 10.5% workers Listen/Talk listen talk to speak to engagement 122 - 8.8% Swimming pool swimming pool 105 - 7.6% Suggestion suggestion idea 105 - 7.6% Council tax council tax 83 - 6.0% Volunteer volunteer voluntary charity 79 - 5.7% Funding funding 77 - 5.6% Activity centre Muirhead Whitletts activity centre sport 72 - 5.2% Private sector private sector invest contract 43 – 3.1% Uncategorised 365 - 26.4%
2 Total of all percentages won’t add up to 100% as many comments contain more than one subject 64 of 92 Q3 Sample Comments
Activity centre Leisure facility Suggestion Waste To set up a working party with the schools. They could be made to feel part of the community in building ideas as to how to save and use and market and enjoy the golf course and swimming pool. The Duke of Edinburgh Award surely would have a strong say and they need to come along to work together with the SAC to go forwards - not backwards. The very useful and handy recycling centre could be another exercise with the university or the schools to work out how much is going to be saved by keeping it. Factoring in travel time and fuel and abuse of fly tipping which will be a horrible issue.
Services Suggestion Participatory budgeting is only scratching the surface of good practice. Focusing on grants rather than on services is missing the point. …. Officials need to get closer to communities. Councillors are currently fire fighting picking up feedback from communities which officials (rather than councillors) should be collecting on a regular basis. Real partnership working in line with the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment Bill rather than tinkering at the edges.
Activity centre Leisure facility Services Suggestion Waste Reduce recycling in Troon to compensate and enable recycling to remain in Maybole. Be smarter about recycling, some lovely pieces of furniture are put out for recycling which people would be happy to buy; set up a shed at recycling centres and allow people to make purchases. Probably this is worded too simplistically but there must be a way of preventing the level of waste as opposed to recycling what there is. Enable recycling to mean recycling and not just disposal. The council could keep any profits and goods would be sold as seen. Ensure anyone using Maybole golf course pays for its use, e.g., pay at Maybole Swimming Pool. The council has many talented employees who will all have lots of ideas which need to be capitalised on. Instead of constantly pushing the savings agenda what about encouraging people to think imaginatively and laterally about the services they provide to encourage better use of resources, or better take-up of paid for services, etc.
Activity centre Community Cut/stop Leisure facility Private sector Swimming pool Start by investing in Maybole pool which isn't as yet facing cuts. Build a slide or flume sealed ones can go outside. Extend the building through capital investment in an L shape to incorporate a gym and have the entrance to this on the walkway up to the golf course so a visual pay position has to be passed by to play. Work with the community to help re-establish a golf club with decent facilities on par with others in the area like Girvan that have had huge investment. Reintroduce a Maybole only ticket and when folk see the council investing the community will rally to work together for the better. This is the only 9 hole in the area and great if time doesn't allow to travel let alone play 18. Charge a little more for the swimming and don't give free swimming to kids in the holidays. A small charge for a fun based swim for kids and families is better than no income. More exercise based water classes to suit a wider range of people and swim times that suit working folk. Any group using a council facility for any reason should be paying. too many peppercorn rents exist and there is no value to something that is free. Examples are the bowling in the town hall, Maybole men’s health forum, Brownies, community association lets, Carrick rugby etc. If every person coming into a council building paid a £1 this would bring in large sums. Village halls that keep lets money whilst the council maintain them and staff them, got to stop. partnership's that mean something with the council and communities working together.
Private sector I think the council needs to explore better 'contracts' when dealing with building and refurbishment work. It seems that it's the cheapest bid that is accepted which creates substandard quality that the council needs to pick up the tab for because the council is inadequate at standing their ground, taking appropriate (legal?) action. Contracts are not strong enough to 'hold to account, poor workmanship.
65 of 92 Volunteer Cut/stop Funding Private sector Council staff Services Community Saving proposals - How much does it cost for the Christmas lights, is there a cheaper more effective mode, starting later and finishing earlier. Create a large body of volunteers, encourage communities to take on board management. If you, in writing, guarantee that 1-2% service charge increase would go directly to the service and not the general pot, I think all SAC would happily take that on board, as long as it was everyone and not just those of us who pay taxes. You could reduce the campus cops, they could work with an in-school group per school. Fine parents who park in and around schools. Encourage more film crews to use the area. I am not sure about the Crossing Patrols, as the only ones I know cross roads without pedestrian crossings therefore they are vital. It may save £100,000 not having them. One Accident and your costs will be in the millions of pounds. How much extra does it cost to have the Ayrshire Roads Alliance? It is not cheaper, especially as you had to put in an extra million within the first few months of it starting. I would also put pressure on the Govt to pull across some of the grants funding new infrastructure to repair old. Also you should make sure that other authorities replace as found when digging up the roads etc. Street lighting, could you reduce the costs by switching off every second light post in areas, and remote areas could they be switched off. Change the lights to more efficient and cheaper modes. What about a small charge to cover the costs of after school and breakfast clubs. Create summer clubs for kids, charge less than the private sector and employ newly trained teachers. Don't cut teaching staff unless you are going to cut the workload of teachers - which is required. A number of forms should be combined on-line to allow each to populate the required forms, this could probably go across a number of departments in the Council. Have a cycle to work programme and add a small interest charge to the staff payments. When it comes to procurement of services etc., encourage staff to use local companies below certain amounts, unless the company has let the Council down previously. Develop keep fit programmes for various areas of the community, mental health, pregnant and youth
Council tax Leisure facility Listen/Talk Suggestion I think Glenburn primary and St. Ninians primary should be completely amalgamated on the same campus to allow savings which would directly allow Prestwick swimming pool to remain open and I think if this was put to the public it would have a majority of council tax payers in agreement Sensible suggestions like this should be considered positively by our local councillors In years gone by the councillors listened and acted on sensible suggestions
Private sector Volunteer Waste Think outside the box. Approach scouts, Life boys, guides etc. to work with them to provide outdoor learning in their facilities, utilising their expertise. Dumfries House is on our doorstep, utilise it. Allow schools more autonomy to utilise parents to help in schools, introduce voluntary contributions for things like school meals so that parents who can afford it are able to assist the school. Transfer ownership of Dolphin House to a joint committee formed of scouts/guides etc. Offer work placements to adults with learning disabilities but enough skills to help keep leisure centres, recycling depots etc. open. Similarly utilise Duke of Edinburgh to help keep these things open. Pay those at the top less. Be cleverer with your reorganisations, utilise staff at lower levels to assist with this. Organise work into project contract style appointments and assign staff to them. Things drag on and on in public sector organisations and often don't come to any conclusions. Work smarter! I would welcome the introduction of parking charges and would welcome increased annual fees for parking permits but with a bonus to residents that they pay for an allocated space outside their house. Parking wardens could issue increased fines for illegal parking bringing in more revenue. Increase revenue further by widening the zones for parking permits. Allow people to address this by creating drives, which would incur a fee for lowering the pavement, thus bringing in more revenue.
66 of 92 Council tax Cut/stop Funding Services Volunteer Do not close all public toilets but rationalise the provision across S Ayrshire. Many supermarkets and shops in Ayr have public toilets but the same is not true in smaller towns such as Girvan nor is it in rural villages. Tourism is vital in our area and everyone needs toilet facilities, especially when people are visiting. In Girvan, the Flushes toilets and car parking area could be re-developed as a high quality, staffed service with provision for the hundreds of coaches which stop in Girvan to allow passengers to use the toilets. If such toilet facilities were state of the art, staffed, immaculately clean (like the best service station imaginable) and built to accommodate hundreds of users, coach companies would pay a premium. Girvan Town Team already supports a Volunteer Tourist Information service which provides a range of information to over 1000 visitors from Easter - September. Since the volunteers work for free, South Ayrshire Council could get very good value for a small amount of funding for more resources and such as large information display boards at Girvan Railway Station and at other strategic points in the town. Charge for parking at Girvan car parks, especially at desirable locations seafront Ainslie Car Park and seafront at Quay Zone. Rigorously follow up non-payment of council tax across the county.
ommunity Council staff Funding Listen/Talk Services Suggestion I do not receive the impression that additional funds will improve the services. I don't receive the impression that they are running efficiently in all probably a good number of "tick box" exercises have been carried out. Management can make a Matrix say anything! As for working with the community, any contact I have had with the Council - the Council don't appear to listen anyway. Again ticking boxes to show that the community is taken in to consideration - covers an audit process. I received the impression the Council have already made up its mind. My suggestion would be to listen to the LOCAL people - before - making a decision.
Activity centre Community Funding Listen/Talk Services If SAC wish to offload buildings to communities they need to get it right all through the process, with full support from all departments involved, help with finding funding, insurance, health and safety advice, above all community engagement right through not just at the beginning, having a named person who would liaise with all the relevant departments for the community as it can be a stressful process. . Activity centres could become community hubs, including some health services and council services run from them, sharing the cost and upkeep of the hub. Give more training to local groups for accessing funds rather than relying on council funding, some groups are hesitant to do it for themselves but with better guidance and training there would be no need for local council funding. There is no school crossing patrol at our local school anyway, but the safety of our children is paramount, could some parent groups take on the task? Community Service people, Janitors Reduce staffing in community development and community, learning and development, which appears to be oversubscribed with very little work seeming to be done.
Funding Listen/Talk Suggestion I think the council should listen to the ideas of young people as a lot of the things the council are trying to save on affect young people directly. The young people of south Ayrshire have innovative and insightful ideas in which would benefit the council greatly! I, for one, am very passionate about letting young people have a voice as we are the future. Having South Ayrshire Youth Council representative(s) could really make the difference in what young people think about the council. I am a young person in Ayrshire who goes to school and I have first-hand experience of young people slagging the council off due to lack of funding in areas that really matter. Young people do keep up with the latest news and information from the council and we have our own opinions which need to be heard.
Suggestion Volunteer Put on the Agenda at each Parent Council and ask the Parents for suggestions. What about some of the money that the Parent Councils raise going towards School Crossing Patrols for their School or asking the Parents to volunteer to help the children cross the road safely for School. Or install Pedestrian Crossings at all Schools. Short term cost and long term savings.
67 of 92 Council staff Cut/stop Listen/Talk Stop making ridiculous decisions based on what "management" has to say. Speak to the people who are actually on the ground, working in these places every day. Ask them, and the people who use them, how valuable it is. Then use some common sense.
Council tax Cut/stop Services Suggestion Your suggestion to stop taking cash and the closure of CSC's makes sense. Close them all. Staffing review seems to include everyone. Keep the public facing services and outsource back office that is readily available: legal advice, payroll, call centre activity. Merge services like IT and Finance with other local authorities. Provide a Council Tax, rates & benefits service from a consolidated Scottish delivery. Generally don't mess with Education, Social Work services and Housing to maintain a small Scottish local authority. Obviously now is the time for a rethink on the number of organisation we need to deliver local services.
Activity centre Cut/stop Leisure facility Services Get people to join together in local community meetings to brain storm to help the council. Don’t put more money into golf, concentrate on looking after the new one in Belleisle, protect, the park from vandals, parking CCTV, get the Belleisle hotel moving with time limit. People will pay more if money spent to save the services to vulnerable children adults and safety, schools. Don’t put a lot of money into development at bottom of high street cutback, we have a lot of cafes already do up existing Victorian buildings renovate what’s there as they are historically interesting worth saving to keep the character. Cut costs, reuse an existing building if new council building is required?
Community Council staff Leisure facility Services Swimming pool I think that some of the services could be run in a better way. For example it make much more sense to increase charges at Prestwick swimming pool for lessons and general swimming to try and make it a more commercial concern rather than just closing the pool and losing this facility altogether. It could also be used more for fitness classes, fun swims, parties if it was used in a more commercial way. The same could be said for the community centres. Staff could work be used more efficiently.
Activity centre Cut/stop Leisure facility Listen/Talk Services Suggestion Call specific listening meetings, rather than budget proposal meets which is unappealing. Ask questions in advance and welcome others, as you do here. Some of us take time to process. Ask who could do this work if the council did not? Involve secondary schools and let the kids put ideas in. No-one likes change. People need to know change is unavoidable but they have a choice as to how and what. The council has a poor image with the public looking to build a new council building rather than restore/shore up what we have in town. When people see golf courses left as resources and disabled services cut it does not help. I fully support allowing such places to go to private ownership or preferably become a freely available open space where walkers and cyclists can range and kids play.
Community Listen/Talk I feel that everything you are planning needs to be done in moderation. These changes can and will cause drastic changes to people’s lives within the community. Everything needs to be done over a changing period not just straight away. You need to work together with the community and arrange meeting (almost like the participatory budgeting events) to arrange with the community what needs done and how the community can help with these changes. I think if you engage with the community a lot of the changes can be made within reason to make most of the community happy. THIS NEEDS PLANNED PROPERLY WITH THE CONSENT OF THE COMMUNITY!! DON'T JUST DO THINGS TO SAVE MONEY!
68 of 92 Q4 Do you have any suggestions for how the council could minimise the impact of the proposed savings on a particular group?
There were 1,066 responses with comments to this question. Many comments were about grievances with the savings proposals rather than highlighting any particular group or suggesting how any particular group could be spared from the full impact of proposed savings.
Q4 Word Cloud
Nr of comments & Category Key words (or similar) in comment % of all comments3 young people children kids pupil student Young people child education crossing patrol lollipop 350 – 32.8% school teacher teaching homelink home link Cut/Stop cut stop sell off 263 – 24.7% Services service 226 – 21.2% Schools school 167 – 15.7% vulnerable mental homeless disabled health Vulnerable 127 – 11.9% social care dementia Leisure Facilities leisure swimming pool golf 121 – 11.4% Money money 120 – 11.3% Community community 97 – 8.8% Elderly elderly old people older people pensioner oap 68 – 6.4% Suggestion suggestion idea 54 – 5.1% Volunteer volunteer voluntary charity 51 – 4.8% Rural rural town village Girvan Maybole 46 – 4.3% Roads road 35 – 3.3% Council tax council tax 25 – 2.4% public Public toilets toilet 21 – 2.0% convenience Low income low income low pay no income low paid deprived 11 – 1.0% Uncategorised 303 – 28.4%
3 Total of all percentages won’t add up to 100% as many comments contain more than one subject 69 of 92 Q4 Sample Comments
Young People The council should be speaking to the Scottish Parliament and putting forward that school meals are not required to be free for all P1-P3 pupils. Many households benefit from free school meals, but likewise many more households are able to afford to pay for meals, or provide a packed lunch instead. How much money would be saved by reverting to the system where only those that needed support received it? I would happily pay for school meals if it meant that cuts to teachers / materials / music & specialist classes at schools weren't cut.
Public toilets Young People I know it may seem completely ridiculous, but if parents with pupils at school had a choice of losing teachers and classroom assistants or paying say even £10 per term (if they could afford it), the majority would pay to keep the staff. I know the aim is for education to be free but really parents are paying out all the time via parent councils for fundraising for schools anyway. For dolphin house, why is a loss being made? If pupils are charged approx. £155 to go to dolphin house for 3 nights and it does actually cost more than that then what is the shortfall, can the cost not increase slightly? Kids throughout south Ayrshire and beyond love their dolphin house trip and they gain life skills and the staff are so committed and it would be terrible for the facility to close. Is the facility well used at weekends by outside groups - does it need to be advertised more to get more external groups to come and use the facility? If you are closing public toilets then you have to ensure that shops or businesses that are 'signed' up to allow non-customers to use their toilets are well advertised. I know that a payment has to be made to such businesses who take on this role, but we need to ensure that it doesn't cost as much doing this than it would to actually keep the public toilets open. It also seems a huge expense running the public toilets in the first place! It has been years since I have used a public toilet, do people pay at a turnstile or is it free?
Young People Minimise the Education cuts by focussing resources on actual teaching. As a school parent until last summer, I was horrified by the over emphasis on auditing by the authority, so called quality improvement which seemed to divert essential time away from teaching. Additional testing and pif's stress pupils and teachers alike. The education my children received post new curriculum was definitely poorer. Go back to actual biannual exams not near weekly testing that disrupts the actual teaching and takes up teachers’ time too. Let the Inspectorate inspect. Trust your Heads. As for Dolphin House, it has always been an inspirational facility. So many children have experienced their first independent steps away from home by staying there. Great outdoor education. Eye opening for many. It is a jewel. Make money from corporate groups out of school terms. Keep it for the children.
volunteer Vulnerable Young People Prestwick pool for example could have reduced opening - maybe only for swimming lessons and at weekends. Whitletts activity centre could be given to volunteer groups such as Barnado's to use for child activities, especially vulnerable children which they focus on Local recycling points for gardening waste for residents to take their own waste to Erect pedestrian crossings at every school if you are doing away with crossing patrols Increasing charges for burials and cremations is shocking - you are taking money from grieving families, that is heartless and shocking by any standard. Same goes for school meals - if the health board can produce meals for just over £1 per patient for the WHOLE day, surely schools can do this...... learn from the NHS, who also provides health centred meals Reducing housing support is a huge mistake. I work with vulnerable families and this is always a huge stressor, the housing support workers help these vulnerable families immensely
70 of 92 Young People All pupils who have a co-ordinated Support Plan or who are on Stage 3 of the Staged Intervention Paperwork should be prioritised when making decisions about proposed cuts to School Assistant posts. Children who are Looked After and Accommodated must have full support of School Assistants/support staff as the removal of the Homelink Service would adversely affect this group. Local libraries should form links with the local primary AND secondary schools to ensure that a love of books/reading is not lost to the next generation of young people if the School Library Service is axed.
Vulnerable Young People Priority should always be the most vulnerable members of society for protection, not service cuts. Education should be at the fore with investment into our young people to encourage, support and educate. Home link is a vital service that supports young people struggling to engage with education services. Do not make cuts to any of these services and that will begin to minimise the impact on this group.
Rural Young People Closing the Maybole recycling centre would have minimal impact on people as there are still facilities at Girvan and Ayr. Ensure that there are alternatives for kids, e.g. if Maybole pool stays open, the golf course closes to ensure there is still leisure activities in the town. Keep duke of Edinburgh but charge a fee for pupils to take part. Keep dolphin house open as this attracts people to the area, but promote this more to the public. Don’t close the public loos in Maybole which have been open less than a year. Stop putting in and taking out cycle lanes such as the very expensive one in Ayr!
Rural Young People Yes. Young people are the future of South Ayrshire - stop cutting their services and give them the respect, support and encouragement they deserve. Recognise the impact that CLD/Youth Work services have on young people, particularly the non-Council services and projects such as Girvan Youth Trust and the Carrick Centre.
Elderly Vulnerable Older peoples services, mental health services and LD services should all be protected - is the council convinced that private sector contracts are the best value for money. Look at the turnover of homecare staff for example and the challenge of recruiting into such posts. The delivery of social care should not be for profit allowing staff to be paid fairly with the training and development they deserve. The poor should also be protected from the increase in any charges. The elderly have proportionally received significant increases in their income (triple lock) and they could afford to a pay a bit more. What about a South Ayrshire citizen levy to protect essential services. (I personally think this is required to fund the NHS and subsequently provide more money for social care).
Vulnerable Young People Don’t take away services for the vulnerable. Invest in all possible supports for vulnerable young people. By all means charge more for parking, planning advice, all the admin business that is not fundamental to people’s well-being but don’t make short term attacks on the children and vulnerable people for whom the longer term consequences could be catastrophic. If nothing else, think of the reputational risk to council when e.g. the decision to take away mental health supports results in something dreadful happening. School librarians and road patrols - how much will that even save in the grand scheme of things! By all means review where individual crossing patrols are not used or required but a blanket decision to remove them all is madness - I can only assume that you put this one in to take it out and are banking on the good press from saving the school patrols to distract from some of the other vicious cuts.
71 of 92 Community Vulnerable Young People Education - Just don't do cuts instead cut some roles that are not required at the top end of education. More money to the young people. Leisure - Facilities should make the areas more appealing (standards) they should offer family nights, fun sessions and encourage more people to use them. Citadel Ayr that's a big area and it is not used to the potential. Family night for a fiver, bring the whole family let them use all facilities within a 4 hour window. Attract more people = more income. Why on earth would you reduce leisure when obesity and mental health are a major cause for concern as a nation. MAKE the facilities more ATTRACTIVE and people will use them even more. Ever wonder why these big Gyms like Bannantynes, B-Fit and ULT are bursting with members but yet our council sports facilities are not such as the citadel, huge community halls. Employ good people to deliver the same service we already have the facilities. Council membership so no matter where people are they can go to these facilities anywhere in South Ayrshire. Lanarkshire do a great job of this. Events - Have a look at East Ayrshire council and their dedication to bring communities together, putting on various events especially for the children, bring families together, communities together and income to the council.
Low income Vulnerable Young People Janitorial staff could be used for school crossings so that the safety of young children wasn't compromised. DoE could be run by one central school, i.e. Belmont. This way it will only attract the committed kids and not those who drop out half way through. For many of your cuts, I feel it hits the most vulnerable and deprived. I would be sad to live and work in a local authority that allowed this to happen so I would like to think certain children are protected from these cuts.
Elderly Low income For elderly care, prioritise and target elderly living in the most deprived areas of South Ayrshire as they are less likely to have the funding or family support (if the relatives are deprived as well) to provide the care. Proportionally deprived areas would gain more benefit from investment rather than wealthier areas.
72 of 92
Q5 Do you have any suggestions for alternative ways the Council could potentially make the necessary savings?
There were 1,392 responses with comments to this question. There were some suggestions mixed in with many complaints about the proposed savings. Suggestions cover a range of topics including such things as better control of heating in council buildings, market South Ayrshire as a holiday destination (not just golf) and make road repairers guarantee their work for 5 to 10 years.
Q5 Word Cloud
Nr of comments & Category Key words (or similar) in comment % of all comments4 Cut cut reduce stop 570 – 41.0% Management management 226 – 16.4% Staff staff council workers 221 – 15.9% Salaries salary wage 189 – 13.6% waste garden fly tipping recycle rubbish Waste 174 - 12.5% refuse Close close merge sell 174 – 12.5% School school teacher teaching 168 – 12.1% Charges charge fees 139 – 10.0% Council tax council tax 120 – 8.6% Efficiency efficiency review 113 – 8.1% Invest income invest private sector sponsorship 112 – 8.1% Leisure activity centre leisure pool swimming Muirhead 111 – 8.0% facilities Whitletts golf Car parking car parking 89 – 6.4% Suggestion suggest idea 73 – 5.2% Roads road pot hole 65 – 4.7% Tourism tourism visitor 48 – 3.5% Public toilet toilet 38 – 2.7% Volunteer volunteer voluntary charity 30 – 2.2% Uncategorised 308 – 22.1%
4 Total of all percentages won’t add up to 100% as many comments contain more than one subject 73 of 92 Q5 Sample Comments
Cut Management School Suggestion Cutting classroom teachers is a flawed idea. The Council a few years ago cut the number of Deputy Heads in some Secondary schools from 5 to 4 to save money. These cuts never happened because the Head teachers in every one of the affected schools used the extra money from the Scottish Government to create the post that was to go! The Councillors make a decision to save money and head teachers with the backing of Education Services basically find a way round it when it comes to their "Management" colleagues. South Ayrshire Secondary’s have mostly 5 DHT's. Go to North or East Ayrshire and a similar sized school will have 3. They manage to cope. 10 DHT's would save about £800,000.
Cut Management Salaries School Too many managers employed in different departments within the council. Find ways of reducing higher wage earners. Cut back on Arnold Clark rentals within council vans. Reduce the number of promoted school teachers in schools. Reduce heating in council buildings, far too warm.
Efficiency Suggestion Start the process by asking employees “from the bottom up” for ideas once the actual savings figure is known. At this stage it is not clear what benefit the Council restructure will have on either "back office" or "front line services" as a result. It is simplistic to say that Education and Social Care should be protected without looking at processes and efficiency to ensure that these services are as lean as possible. Employees who do the job will know how to do this. It is not always the person at the top that knows best how to improve what happens at the bottom.
Council tax Cut Leisure facilities Management Suggestion Cut management positions and increase council tax to an appropriate level. I would also suggest increasing advertising to market South Ayrshire as a holiday destination, and not just play off of the fact we have lots of golf courses. We have distilleries, breweries, a professional football team, a rugby team, parks, beaches, countryside, and excellent shopping facilities in the town... actually advertise this nationwide and get people coming back to Ayr. A cut in key services will stop people coming to Ayr.
Charges Cut Leisure facilities Staff Waste There are other areas to cut money. Why does procurement have to be only from approved suppliers? By opening up the list and allowing staff to research and use other suppliers we will get cheaper and better quality goods and services. Yes, an extra member of staff adding them to the system for payment but this will still be offset by much greater savings. Gardening - re-use bulbs etc. rather than throwing them out. They can be left in the ground! Cut the funding to events such as the air show, Golf Opens etc. Although this brings people into the area the come by train/car. Go to the event, spend money in the grounds with businesses who come from outwith the area, return to the car and go home. This is evident from the hordes of people going directly to and from the train station. In fact people avoid going into town on such days as they perceive it will be extremely busy. This one was evident from how dead Troon town centre was during the recent open. Cafes and other businesses had purchased extra stock, opened for longer bringing with it extra staff costs but the town was empty. Everyone was shipped from the train station and car parks directly to the open and directly back to the station and car parks. A very very small percentage made it into the town. If events like that do occur charge the businesses proper rates for the hire of the land etc. It was appalling how little the council charged the open for the use of Marr playing fields for car parking. Even worse when you consider how much was charged for customers to use the car park and get into the open.
74 of 92 Car parking Council tax Cut Management Roads Staff Should pay for companies to lay new road surfaces properly so that they’re not plagued by potholes 3 months later, then having to pay for them to be filled in in a rush only to re-open again. Cuts council bosses pay so that's in line with other management levels for public services. Cut council overtime for workers who spend their weekends picking up litter, or sitting in their vans instead of doing the work - being given overtime for taking time to do a job is not productive. Reduce hours of those who are still driving their road sweepers at 2100 at night. Actually recover peoples council tax and rent payments Interdepartmental billing Recover parking fines and enforce parking restrictions Do not spend money on cycle lanes that haven't been approved Reduce temporary staff expenses employ people not temps.
Close Leisure facilities Management School Staff More school mergers should be considered. Why are not all town schools Grammar, Holmston, Newton being located on the old Ayr Academy.? Small village schools should also be merged to make viable sized classes to ensure fewer composite classes and to allow children to mix with others of same age. Is there a need for 3 schools in Maybole when Girvan only has 2? Is it necessary to have two libraries in Ayr? Maybole swimming pool is barely used so should be closed in preference to Prestwick. If Prestwick pool is to close and Citadel is at end of life, why not build a new super facility with pool, gym, library, housings and customer service in Heathfield on a bus route. Management should be decreased radically and money reinvested in staff actually delivering service.
Charges Close Cut Leisure facilities School Personally I feel South Ayrshire does not need 7 municipal golf courses when social care to vulnerable people is being cut. However I appreciate that others enjoy golf. Rather than closing courses could some or all of the courses be setup as npo/social enterprises with the council offering the courses to the npo/social enterprises on a no rent/peppercorn rent basis - npo/social enterprise would be responsible for running and maintaining the course and promoting membership and can pursue grants from R and A, Sports Scotland, Heritage funds etc. to assist and also charge membership appropriately. SAC would retain ownership of the land so cannot be sold off for redevelopment. Similar with Prestwick swimming pool with the council providing the site rent free, but and npo/social enterprise running and maintaining this. Rather than pursuing a new build at Queen Margaret is there any scope at any of the existing schools to adopt a shared campus with Queen Margaret sharing facilities.
Charges Close Cut Leisure facilities Public toilet School Please do not close Prestwick swimming pool. It is used by lots of people in the community, for swimming lessons or leisure swimming. Instead keep the swimming lessons, reduce the opening hours and increase the price. Also increase "fun" hours with floats to attract more kids, and/or add "fun" hours depending on weather forecast and advertise on social media. Public toilets: please do not close all of them. Keep open existing toilets near play parks: kids can't wait to be back home. They don't have to be free: 20-50p entry is acceptable. And they could be self-cleaning like in Prestwick. Please do not stop outdoor learning. It is important for children. However it could be paying and not compulsory, with maybe grants for those who can't afford it. No issue with increasing charges within reason. Reduce bin services: food caddy could be collected every second week, and brown bin once a month only. Put more bins in public places to reduce littering. Implement fines for littering. Reduce street sweeping in residential areas. Please do not touch any aspect of Monkton Primary School!
Leisure facilities Volunteer Waste There must be a pool of people of goodwill with time and energy who would be prepared to take on voluntary work for the council, e.g. tending gardens, lollipop people or even classroom assistants. This would obviously have to be carefully organised, but the advantages would be all round - financial savings, job satisfaction on the part of the volunteers, and an increased sense of community. Due recognition for these voluntary services would be part of it.
75 of 92 Roads Salaries School Suggestion Yes, The roads and our educational standards are in a shocking state, here are some suggestions: *All contractors should be contracted to ensure road works are warranted for 5 or 10 years. *All those who require to dig up the road infrastructure should reinstate the area for 50 metres on either side of the area they have affected, this needs to include pavements. * Schools should be amalgamated and no longer do we require schools to be divisive on so called religious grounds, this is nonsense in a secular society. *Teachings assistants are superfluous and not required, they have patently failed to improve attainment. *Teachers require to take on additional duties including sports and after school in order to justify 10% wage claims and address the lack of improvement in our schools and class sizes can increase to 40, I along with several of my class mates achieved 1st Class Honours from a class size of 47, small class sizes have not delivered. *As discipline is a huge issue as we pander to the disruptive, please remove to a designated class as they did in the 1970's to allow learning for the many and focus for the disruptive on what best fits their learning style
Invest Leisure facilities School Staff Volunteer Having got involved with Parkrun (www.parkrun.og) recently, I would hold that up as a shining example of how local volunteers can start, sustain, and staff local leisure services. It can be done. Clearly staffing costs are a major consideration for the council and, particularly where leisure services are concerned, I think volunteer initiatives can be leveraged to keep facilities open where possible. Perhaps volunteers can be reimbursed in other ways - e.g. free use for their family of the facilities in question. In the private sector - private gym clubs also gain revenue from private trainers to train clients in their facility. So they bring revenue themselves and also new service users whom they train. They also deliver services (e.g. inductions) for free. This could extend to swim coaches, tennis etc. In other words - opening up commercial opportunities for individuals in a way that bolsters the staffing requirement of the facility is something that works well elsewhere. In a similar vein - for schools - I can imagine cost effective ways of increasing support numbers - e.g. interns. People in or looking to get into teacher training wanting to boost their CV from having done classroom support for free. Training in other professions too would, I'm sure, be very keen for such posts. Again - commonplace in the private sector.
Cut Invest Salaries School Tourism Waste Cut high level salaries and weed out the dead wood. Stop instructing ridiculous schemes such as the cycle route that was ripped up. That money wasted alone would pay for the school patrols for the next few years. How about Spend to Save.? You can't just save, save, save, things will crumble...... invest in Ayr town centre, and I mean properly invest. Make it a town people want to visit, bring in new developments rather than emphasis on out of town retail. The high street has died in the last 10 - 15years, no investment, no draw for new business, increase in homeless and migrants hanging around (sign of the times yes, but a sign of Ayr in general...), streets are grubby and dirty, building facades are crumbling and some are verging on dangerous. The Kyle Centre is a joke, might as well shut the door, where have all the anchor stores gone ? SAC need to take control of this and make it into something that will anchor the town centre and bring people and business back in. Forget about maximising rental revenues from these sites, that’s where SAC have it all wrong...... allow developers to create new spaces and venues, theme the town i.e. Rabbie Burns and all that Ayrshire offers....get the tourists back, then the jobs will come and the town will start to recover. At that point SAC will reap the benefits in many other ways by playing the long game, rather than cutting what’s immediately obvious.
76 of 92 Charges Close Leisure facilities Tourism Revenue creation streams 1) Charge for paper based bills- common in other industries. £5 per paper bill or free if email. Saving on paper, printing and mailing costs, do an impact assessment on these, you would save £. 2) Library fines- increase marginal amount- create revenue. 3) £1 additional fee in swimming/hall booking Promote the seaside towns Create tourist destinations- think like Oban (seafood capital Scotland), Castle Douglas (foodie town of Scotland), West Kilbride/Kirkcudbright(art destination) all these towns have a clear defined goal and attracts hoards of people because of it. Flatten your structure, look at your CRM systems, and look at your IT network. Make people accountable for delivery, merge teams, go on a culture change programme, and clamp down on your sickness levels. How many directors do you have, how many heads of, how many bullying claims. Focus on you before focussing on impacting your customers
Close Efficiency Leisure facilities School Tourism Close Dalmilling golf course. As a ratepayer I find it unacceptable to subsidise players of Dalmilling to tune of £4. With low visitor numbers, the membership has a subsidised "private" course to themselves. Belleisle/Seafield could absorb the rounds and that would only take them back to 2007 levels. Troon course numbers barely justify three courses. Part of Darley course grounds to be used for housing. Bite the bullet and use all of it now, rather than in a few years’ time. As an avid golfer, I would rather play on fewer better kept courses than more poorly maintained ones. Numbers of schools/teachers “Religion” based schools are no longer justifiable. All denominations should be taught in the same schools. Staffing General org structure in council is top and level heavy. Less layers with wider span of control is more efficient, more challenging and rewarding for personnel.
77 of 92 6.2 Part B Questions
Q38 What groups of people should benefit from reduced charges and why?
There were 1,047 responses with comments to this question. There were the expected groups of people suggested for reduced charges, e.g. disabled, the young, the elderly and charities. There were also a few twists e.g. some saying Blue Badge holders should not have free parking and incomes for pensioners continue to grow faster than the working community.
Q38 Word Cloud
disabled mental vulnerable Social care dementia Vulnerable 358 – 34.2% homeless Ill health Blue badge older Elderly elderly oap pensioner old people 344 – 32.9% people young people children student pupil kids Young people 314 – 30.0% early years child reduced Low income low income low paid lower income deprived 174 – 16.6% income Receipt of receipt of benefits unable to work poor out of work deprived 111 – 10.6% benefits unemployed School meals school meals 96 – 9.2% Car parking car parking Blue badge 80 – 7.6% No one no one nobody none 41 – 3.9% Community community volunteer charity voluntary 36 – 3.4% Groups groups Concessions concession means tested 40 – 3.8% Council tax council tax 16 – 1.5% Uncategorised 173 – 16.5%
78 of 92 Q38 Sample Comments
Receipt of benefits School meals Vulnerable Better to give a card with pre-loaded allowance on so people do not feel embarrassed at standing out. Smart cards could be on sale at full price for most. Similar to what was done with school meals Agencies who think people could benefit should decide. People could be invited to do certain amount of hours community assistance in return for choice of leisure facility- litter cleaning in exchange for gym/fitness class use for instance those with poor mental health may benefit highly from allotment or leisure facility, but just as much from community activity, dependant on their personal challenges. Ask people to say why they should get it - to bid. Same as with grants- as a group if possible. In a form of what would you do to get one of these cards or what would it mean to you- they should not feel they will be penalised if the answer is 'wrong'
Concessions Elderly Low income Receipt of benefits Vulnerable Various studies have highlighted that, in relative terms, incomes for pensioners has risen faster than for those in work. Given the "triple-lock" this situation is likely to continue. The same studies have highlighted that disposable incomes for pensioners continues to grow at faster rate than for working population. The in-work but low paid, who are not in recipients of benefits get no concession. This demographic have increasing incidence of poor health indicators such as obesity yet they receive no concessions to encourage use of leisure facilities. The council concession scheme continues to be ageist in positively discriminating in favour of those who are 60+ and not in receipt of benefits nor disabled etc. Given the cost saving requirements, why are pensioners continuing to receive a concession irrespective of their circumstances? Why not take the opportunity to end the ageism introduce a fee-based concession card that gives 25% reduction for ALL frequent users of Leisure facilities?
Elderly Receipt of benefits Vulnerable People with disabilities, OAP’s. Those who have lost jobs and are actively trying to find employment and those who are unable to work as a result of illness. Don’t think those who make lifestyle choices which mean that they don’t work, or choose not to work should benefit from reduced charges. Always the people who are working and paying taxes etc. that ends up having to pay for everything.
Elderly Vulnerable People who are mentally and physically disabled, have long-term or life limiting health issues which restrict their enjoyment of life and Senior Citizens who live only on a State Pension with no other income earned or unearned.
Elderly Low income Receipt of benefits Vulnerable Pensioners with no private income - Families who are on low income - Disabled on low income - Lets in “deprived” areas - Because all these people would have more pressure on their finances.
Elderly Receipt of benefits People who fall between two levels e.g. unemployed single people who only qualify for minimum benefit and no extras because they have had the foresight to save a little when this was possible. People who are willing to commit to regular use of a leisure facility (e.g. present leisure card, costing £10). Pensioners who are willing to commit to a season for going to the gym, swimming etc. (probably saving the NHS money by keeping fit).
Elderly Vulnerable Vulnerable persons, pensioners, people with disabilities, These people would benefit from reduced charges because they are on limited income and with the cost of living rising it is making it near impossible for these people to be able to go out because of the high charges.
79 of 92 Car parking Community groups School meals Vulnerable Young People Registered Charities - reduced or free letting charges Blue Badge Holders - free parking Leisure facilities - depending on income Instrumental music services - children on free school meals
Young People Groups of children should have reduced fees such as youth sports clubs etc. Reduced fees would allow families still to attend these clubs as they may be on a tight budget and any price increase is likely to be handed down to the parents. We should be encouraging children to play sport to keep them fit and healthy
Low income Receipt of benefits Young People Any group using facilities that involve health and wellbeing promotion, especially people from deprived backgrounds who do not have the luxury to use alternative facilities. And as per government policies all children should have equality, providing affordable meals is a necessity.
No one None, should be equal price throughout. It is harsh but nowadays with equality why should some pay more than others.
Car parking Elderly Receipt of benefits Vulnerable Young People Only children should have reductions for leisure facilities. Blue badge holders will usually be in receipt of benefits which in some cases will be in proportion to those with low incomes despite working so should not receive reduction in fees including parking, subsides for over 60's transport should be reassessed as there is a growing population of people working after 60 years of age due to changes in pension funding and therefore should pay full transport fees, the elderly have seen their pensions rise in terms of inflation and their cost of living is in keeping with current retail costs , transport costs for them should also be reassessed and increased accordingly. Fairness is key and because you work does not automatically mean you should shoulder the cost of all sections of the community it should be a cumulative effort between everyone.
Car parking School meals Young People School meals should be free for all children, no matter their circumstances. I also believe if car parking throughout South Ayrshire was free, then it would boost the town centre. People are travelling to Glasgow as they can do some shopping, go out for something to eat then go to the cinema or a show without having to move their car or put extra into the meter. 2 or 3 hours paid parking is not enough time to carry out the activities that people spending time in towns are participating in. Move with the times.
Elderly Vulnerable Young People Disabled Under 18's Pensioners 1) disabled people have enough difficulties accessing services without extra charges 2) children's services and facilities and activities should not become overpriced therefore people will stop using them. Less healthy active children and services becoming a waste of money and/or closing. 3) Pensioners have paid enough in their lives and some have little income to live on therefore overpriced services will stop being used which can be the only lifeline some pensioners may have. All other adults (including those on benefits) have means to pay a slight increase in charges.
Elderly Low income Receipt of benefits Vulnerable Young People People who depend on benefits either because they are unemployed, have a low income, are disabled - as well as the children of the above - and senior citizens who only have a State pension.
80 of 92 Q60 Thinking about the services you use, where should staffing levels be protected?
There were 1,413 responses with comments to this question. What plainly comes through is that respondents want staffing levels in education protected.
Q60 Word Cloud
Nr of comments – Category Key words (or similar) in comment % of all comments5 education school teacher teaching homelink 1,081 – Education classroom classroom support library librarian 76.5% assistants support staff children young people kid pupil student Young people 200 – 14.2% early years child Health & Social health social care elderly disabled 154 – 10.9% Care vulnerable Classroom classroom school support 144 – 10.2% assistants assistant/s assistant/s staff Management manager management admin administration 110 – 7.8% customer Front line front line frontline 109 – 7.7% services Libraries library librarian 75 – 5.3% Housing housing council house 74 – 5.2% Neighbourhood neighbourhood environmental 61 – 4.3% Services services services Waste waste rubbish refuse recycling garden 53 – 3.8% Leisure facilities swimming pool leisure golf 46 – 3.3% Crossing patrols crossing lollipop patrol 40 – 2.8% Roads road pot hole 22 – 1.6% Finance & ICT finance ICT 21 – 1.5% No one no one nobody none 15 – 1.1% Legal & legal democratic 12 – 0.9% Democratic Uncategorised 150 – 10.6%
5 Total of all percentages won’t add up to 100% as many comments contain more than one subject 81 of 92
Q60 Sample Comments
Education Management or Admin No one Waste Young People Think review is necessary across the board. Campus cops are an unnecessary waste of money. Care must be taken with teacher numbers and teaching assistants though. Education is vitally important and numbers need to be maintained to ensure children are given best chances. How many non-teaching posts though seem to be increasing e.g. senior management teams
Classroom assistants Education Young People In schools: teachers, support staff, nursery teachers should be protected. I would support (and encourage) striking staff over these matters. ASBO services should be protected and those working in the community provide services to young and old people. It is the Year of young People after all.
Education Front line Health & Social Care Frontline services - teachers, assistants and other support / admin staff; care services and support services for vulnerable groups (disabled, mental health); community facilities (libraries, activity centres)
Education Front line Housing Waste Staffing levels at all times should be protected for frontline services. Teachers nearing retirement should be offered early retirement packages. I agree that headships could be cut by putting one head in charge of more than one school. Reduce management and reduce waste on constantly changing resources every time there is a new educational idea that is the same as one ten years ago. Stop staff paying over the odds for products from companies because they are on your approved list. Stop paying private companies over the odds for services that were done in house before cuts took place. It doesn’t make sense to cut services and then end up paying more to private companies.
Education Young People Nursery teachers because children can't actually learn without them. Music tuition because teachers aren't getting a pay rise. Secondary school especially Girvan Academy as there is little teachers as it is.
Classroom assistants Education Young People The number of teachers in schools should be protected, support staff in schools should be maintained as per the needs of the learners, especially in today's climate of inclusion and of a growing number of children with additional support needs.
Education Young People Secondary schools require more teachers not less. Problem children should not be taught in classrooms where they disrupt the education of other children. We have many experiences of this in primary and secondary schooling. Music tuition should be available without charge, for many children would not be able to continue if charges were implemented. What is the point in making parents/guardians pay for music tuition which takes time out of the children’s schooling career when they could just be paying for lessons outside of school which does not take up class time.
82 of 92 Education Young People Staffing in Schools should definitely be protected! if staffing is cut in schools our youngsters who have difficulty in learning are just going to get lost in the system! Therefore will result in not being properly educated and unable to get proper jobs and will bring the unemployment total to a high number in the future. Our children are our future!! and the government are going to fail them if they cut very valuable staff members!!
Education Health & Social Care Young People EDUCATION - we need to invest in our young people they are the future, schools and nurseries are already stretched with workloads and a number of school rely heavily on parent helpers to assist with tasks on a day to day basis - you cannot continue to use parents/carers as unpaid workers for the Council. CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES - not sure which category this falls into but my daughter receives assistance 2 sessions of 45 minutes per week at her primary school from the hearing impairment service. This additional help could be the difference in my children having access to main stream education or having to attend a school for children with additional needs when it would not be fully necessary. Cost saving here is to keep the support in the primary school for as long as practically possible.
Classroom assistants Education Young People I do not believe it will be possible to cut the number of school teachers and support staff and maintain the levels of education for our young people. Already our staff at secondary schools are struggling to find staff in certain subjects. Increasing class sizes will put further strain on already stretched teachers. The government has promised to bridge the attainment gap for our young people. This can only be done if we have the staff to carry out the educational interventions required. The number of teacher students and support staff should be protected
Classroom assistants Education Management or Admin Young People All staffing levels should be protected. We should be providing our young people with the best education we possibly can. Reducing teacher numbers and support staff numbers will greatly harm this. Think of when pupils sit their exams, and they require additional support such as a reader or a scribe, if we do not have support assistants, then pupils cannot complete their exams effectively. The council are struggling to get teachers to fill positions such as HE and Technical. Why cut teachers when we cannot get them in the first place? There is a tremendous amount of admin work done behind the scenes by many assistants in schools. Without these assistants, teachers (who are already working overtime) will be required to put in even more time. There are only so many hours in the day!
Education Health & Social Care Waste Security in public buildings, schools etc. Road resurfacing, pot hole repair etc. Waste disposal/cleansing Care for elderly and disabled
Management or Admin Waste Everywhere except management structures. There is scope to combine management services internally and across the three Ayrshire authorities providing an opportunity to cut wasteful management and recoup costs by sharing resources and services.
Finance & ICT Neighbourhood services Waste Staffing should be protected in areas crucial to the councils day to day running. Services which also provide vital services and links with the general public should also be protected. For example Finance and ICT, Neighbourhood services, waste collection.
83 of 92 Classroom assistants Crossing patrols Education Management or Admin Waste Teachers and support staff in schools. School crossing patrols Waste management to maintain household waste collections Roads to maintain and improve the condition of the road network. Some of the country road surfaces are in very poor condition.
Crossing patrols Education Leisure facilities Leisure facilities and community centres, public toilets, school crossing patrols. I don't use many council facilities. I would be concerned about any proposed reduction in teaching staff at schools, and care assistants in day centres and care homes.
Management or Admin A reduction should be made in administration posts where there are deemed to be to many middle management positions, cutting this tier would enable real savings and allow more funding to be channelled to grass roots levels i.e. The staff that are in real terms operating the cogs of the council wheel.
Education Health & Social Care Libraries Young People In secondary school libraries. As raised previously librarians are too essential for schools to lose. Even taking away from the mental health argument. Librarians go above and beyond to challenge children in fun ways which pushes them to the best they can achieve academically. It is also a great way to gain information with posters and websites advertised in the library students know exactly where to go for help and know what is going on in their local community.
Education Health & Social Care Roads Road repairs, primary school staff outdoor education provision for community- it changes lives hugely promoting independence and confidence environmental protection is needed for health of all planning seems cut to bone already you could lose cutting road verges that’s bad for environment and the poor ditching creates dangerous verges for walkers cut numbers of licensed premises and make the towns a safer place to be
Legal & Democratic Legal and Democratic Services to ensure the Council remains complaint with various Legislation and risk is kept to an acceptable level so far as is reasonably practicable.
Education Management or Admin Clearly all service areas have clear core functions which need to be protected and each service area should be assessed fully to ensure service provision is not compromised by a reduction in staffing levels. Education and in particular teacher (including management) services are particularly critical to the Council area as a whole. Young families may seek to relocate if education provision is reduced. Specialist music teaching and individual music lessons are a source of pride in many of our local schools and effect of withdrawing these services should not be underestimated.
84 of 92 Q67 Do you have any further comments on any of the proposals mentioned in this survey?
There were 801 responses with comments to this question. Many people are concerned of the long term detrimental affect some or most of the savings proposals will have on the community but in particular those most vulnerable for the short term fix of balancing the budget.
Q67 Word Cloud
Nr of comments & % Category Key words (or similar) in comment of all comments6 Stop cut stop sell off 247 – 30.8% classroom education school teacher teaching Education assistant 276 – 34.5% classroom support young people children child kid pupil Young people 205 – 25.6% student early years Business business private sector invest 154 – 19.2% Community community volunteer voluntary charity 117 – 14.6% Leisure facilities golf swimming pool leisure 110 – 13.7% Vulnerable homeless vulnerable disabled mental 98 – 12.2% Roads road pot hole 94 – 11.7% Rural towns town centre village Girvan Maybole rural 92 – 11.5% Events air show tourism event 79 – 9.9% Car parking car parking car park 74 – 9.2% Health & Social health social care 72 – 9.0% Care older Elderly old people elderly pensioner OAP 70 – 8.7% people Management management manager 67 – 8.4% outdoor Outdoor learning Dolphin Edinburgh 58 – 7.2% learning
6 Total of all percentages won’t add up to 100% as many comments contain more than one subject 85 of 92 Crossing crossing patrol lollipop 50 – 6.2% patrollers Public toilets toilet 46 - 5.7% Council tax council tax 44 – 5.5% Libraries library librarian 33 – 4.1% Music instruction music 31 – 3.9% Activity centre activity centre Muirhead Whitletts sport 25 – 3.1% Uncategorised 151 – 18.9%
Q67 Sample Comments
Business Car parking Council tax Crossing patrollers Education Elderly Libraries Music Outdoor learning Roads StopVulnerable Young people South Ayrshire Council seems to have deliberately targeted the most vulnerable members of our society in their proposed cuts. The biggest affected groups will be children, people with disabilities or medical needs, low-income families, the elderly and potentially homeless individuals. I appreciate that the money needs to come from somewhere but targeting these groups of people will only add to the difficult lives that many already have and will store up problems for the future. They could increase Council Tax and spread the load in a much fairer way. The single biggest target for the council's proposed cuts is the Education Department and these proposals will decimate an already stretched service. Many of the recommendations will hit the poorest and most vulnerable children in our society hardest, reducing the opportunities for children from low-income families and increasing the attainment gap. *Reducing numbers of teaching staff and increasing class sizes will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on the teaching and learning that occurs in the classroom. *Reducing support assistants in schools means that the children who require the most help will be left solely with the class teacher, leaving them in a situation where either they do not get the help they need in order to learn or the other children in the class do not get time and attention from their teacher. *Closing school libraries targets the children whose parents cannot afford to buy them the books they require to develop an adult vocabulary and expand their outlook in life. *Stopping an already minimal Home Link service puts the most vulnerable South Ayrshire families at even greater risk. *Introducing charges for music tuition ensures that children from lower-income families will never have the opportunity to participate and music will become the pursuit of the well off, increasing the attainment gap rather than closing it. *Stopping the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme would put South Ayrshire children at a disadvantage, compared to pupils from other areas, when applying to Universities who actively look for applicants with additional achievements. *Removing school crossing patrols ensures that more parents will take their cars to school to drop children off, increasing the traffic on the roads at busy times of the day, putting more children at risk off accident or injury. This also contravenes the Scottish Government's National Walking Strategy. *The closure of Dolphin House would ensure that many children never experience the sense of accomplishment and independence that comes from participating in challenging outdoor activities and the boost in self-esteem that the children gain from realising that they are capable of things they never thought possible. Closing Dolphin House and the stopping the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme are proposals I feel particularly strongly against. Very short- sighted suggestions.
Business Crossing patrollers Education Events Public toilets Roads Rural towns Young people Closures of recycling centres could encourage more fly tipping which is a national eye sore. Closure of public toilets where do you go when caught short? Not going to encourage tourists into the area. School patrols what price is a child’s life. Girvan has two school patrols for a busy A77 road which can have a convoy of up to four lorries in a row. Although I live alone I have a grandchild which questions no 17 effects. Road maintenance is a disgrace now. The roads are full of large pot holes a dangerous situation could arise at any time. Girvan to Ayr stretch is a right nightmare.
86 of 92 Business Car parking Council tax Crossing patrollers Education Elderly Health & Social Care Leisure facilitiesOutdoor learning Rural towns Vulnerable Young people It is obvious that tough decisions need to be made but I would ask for our children's needs to be prioritised as this is beneficial to the whole of society in the long term. School crossing patrols need to be maintained to provide basic safety. It is appalling to consider removing this facility. The Duke of Edinburgh Award and leisure facilities should be maintained as these are crucial to children's health and wellbeing in the long term. Closing Prestwick swimming pool will only add to the already extremely long waiting list for children's swimming lessons in South Ayrshire - depriving many of a crucial life skill. Introducing parking charges where previously there have been none could mean that other local towns lose business as Ayr has done. Clearly, council tax should have been raised more often in the last 10 years which may have avoided us being stuck in this dire situation of having to choose between which vulnerable group we need to deprive the most - the poor, the elderly, the disabled and our children. I accept that we need to pay a little more for services - although this would be difficult (having personally not had a pay rise in 10 years!) - this would be preferable to removing services altogether. Thank you for taking our views into consideration.
Education Leisure facilities Management Public toilets Rural towns Young people Having recently returned to Scotland after living in England for a number of years I am shocked at the number of services we receive free of charge. Maybe if we started charging working residents for things like prescriptions, dental checks and eye tests etc. then maybe we would have the funding to support some of these key services. I think it’s a disgrace that as a family earning a very comfortable salary we don't pay for these services however the simple thing like being able to use a toilet in the town is withdrawn. What happens then when the thousands of young people that descended upon Troon this year start urinating in the streets as well as drinking and all the other things they were doing. I appreciate I may not use the local swimming pool etc. as much as others but it should be there for all to use. As a Classroom assistant (in another council) I strongly disagree with the reduction of any education staff be them teachers or assistants. I know full well the challenges they face with the diverse range of children in mainstream and the support staff are key to this. As mentioned before one teacher cannot manage a full class of 30 if there is one or more children with additional needs, the impact on staff and children is huge and lasting and I am witnessing this in the school I am in now with staff absence, the impact on the continual change of supply staff covering and the concerns of parents and staff. We have one chance to educate these children to the best of our ability and if we fail we fail our future.
Activity centre Business Community Crossing patrollers Education Health & Social Care Leisure facilities Libraries RoadsRural towns Young people With declining standards of literacy and numeracy it is important that teachers have adequate support so that they can focus their professional skills on developing each child's full potential. School librarians play a vital part in encouraging reading and developing information literacy. Children's safety is paramount - crossing patrols are needed, particularly at schools near busy roads or in town centres. As we have an ageing population it is important that there is support for older adults to retain their independence by living in their own home if possible as a cost-effective alternative to care homes. In coastal areas, where marine sports are part of local leisure activities, the ability to swim and life-saving skills should be developed. Swimming also has health benefits and can be an appropriate form of exercise for some medical conditions and so should be promoted in the community. As Scotland has a poor health record and an increasingly obese population exercise should be encouraged and the Council should publicise its existing sports facilities and maintain them. There may be scope to increase revenue by running more classes outwith the Citadel in other Council halls. The roads where I live require repair. Maintenance is needed to prevent further deterioration that may lead to more expensive engineering work longer term.
87 of 92 Car parking Community Crossing patrollers Education Health & Social Care Leisure facilities Roads Rural towns StopYoung people Many of the proposals outlined I believe to be detrimental to the community and individuals! Increasing parking charges when scores of shoppers now by-pass Ayr for Silverburn and Braehead negatively impacts Ayr as a town, negatively impacts jobs and opportunities for young persons! I feel asset transferring community facilities to be a great idea and benefit to the community when a viable alternative is there! The closure of Maybole Golf Course I feel is a major let down to the people of Carrick again especially youngsters! If the recycling centre is not viable then I agree with the closure. We cannot and must not gamble with the education of our young people and should be trying to improve levels of education I cannot stress this enough! Cut backs to mental health and other services is short citied and passes the buck onto other emergency services to pick the pieces up, there has already been drastic cuts to services provided! The school crossing patrols on certain road should not be cut, now whether schools could be given a budget or have staff take on the responsibility with appropriate training, I mentioned earlier Hillfoot road in Ayr where there was a recent fatality and numerous 'near misses' requires a crossing patrol and any deviation from that I would hold the council as negligent should there be any future accidents.
Crossing patrollers Education Events Leisure facilities Public toilets With regard to events and tourism budgets being reduced, I strongly agree it should be spread evenly across various events. I strongly disagree £250,000 to run an air show. It started 4 years ago with support of £25,000 and I do not see evidence of anything bigger or better with an extra £225,000!! Indeed then it was at the airport as well, now it is 2 days of sameness, how do you justify that??? Give the company what they got 4 years ago and the rest will keep Prestwick pool open or pay for all the crossing patrols. Does this company provide best value, is it tendered? Who gets their budget increased year on year to provide the same service? People from all over Scotland and England benefit from this. Someone from Aberdeen can visit a free air show in Ayrshire and I have to lose my local swimming pool and school crossing patrol and public toilets to pay for it! I DON'T THINK SO.
Education Young people Think that there should be a massive reduction in teaching staff who do not teach the children. Far too many principle teachers, depute head teachers, directors, department heads and guidance teachers. Would be better to have a social worker in a school than a campus cop and a guidance teacher.
Business Car parking Community Crossing patrollers Education Elderly Health & Social Care Leisure facilities MusicOutdoor learning Rural towns Young people The closure of Prestwick Swimming Pool would be detrimental to many people within the community - from school children attending paid-for classes, to those attending lessons through school, elderly people who use the pool for fitness and social/fitness outings, and a general east- to-achieve and afford family activity. The removal of school crossing patrols may be detrimental to the safety of children attending school, especially the younger pupils who often build up rapport with the crossing patrollers. The removal of Dolphin House as a facility would be a loss of an excellent educational and confidence-building facility that parents are happy to pay for at present. The introduction of charges for music tuition in schools may prevent some gifted pupils from less affluent homes from getting a good start and opportunity in life (that may enhance their future educational attainment and job prospects). Reduction in mental health services may be detrimental to many compromised individuals who rely and have become dependent on this nature of facility and support. Increasing charges or introducing charges for council car parks may drive more shoppers out of our already struggling town centres (the number of empty and 'to let' units throughout Ayrshire indicates how severe the business population has been affected already. Further charges on shoppers will be further detrimental to local businesses.
88 of 92 Business Education Elderly Events Outdoor learning Rural towns Stop Vulnerable Young people As highlighted I do feel the council cuts focus upon the most vulnerable individuals within SAC area low income elderly children and disabled surely they should be the most protected from cuts. I do recognise that savings have to be made and feel this should be done in a way that those with incomes who are able to pay for services should perhaps pay small increase in costs with exception of school / oap meals. I also feel at present lack of promoting tourism greatly negatively impacts upon shop owners cafes B&BS etc. It is a well known fact that money spent on promoting tourists is profitable. The SAC should be shamed given sell off of land for minimal sums & repurchasing land at extortionate costs i.e. UWS! A trip to similar towns in East Coast i.e. Falkirk etc. highlights the deficits that have occurred in forward thinking / planning as seen investment in local football stadium shopping malls Kelpies etc. that have more than paid for themselves with no need to go to Glasgow / Edinburgh as all facilities are used by locals visitors daily Falkirk’s economy is booming in comparison to Ayr where once it was the opposite. SAC has a readymade World Wide Brand it pays token gesture to The Land O Burns! Which compared to Edinburgh’s use of events festivals etc. pales into insignificance? One SAC was seen as best council in Ayrshire it has now been surpassed by both East / North Ayrshire councils. I detract but sadly a fact .
Activity centre Business Events Health & Social Care Leisure facilities Management Rural towns Stop Ayr is supposed to be a 'tourist, seaside town'. The council need to see other 'seaside towns' e.g. Weymouth England and see how busy it is due to council input. Ayr is barren and a disgrace to be called a tourist town. It has long been forgotten with no attractions, sport and leisure is highlighted as being beneficial for health and wellbeing but SAC is cutting facilities. Mental health is also being highlighted with many more people suffering, these people should be helped. If the council cleared its offices of big pay bosses, too many of which are at the top of a tree of line managers, a fortune could be saved and services vital to the people of SA would benefit. You only have to look at the money generated from the Scottish Air show to see how important the use of our beach area is. Paper questionnaires would have been cheaper than card.
Car parking Community Education Events Leisure facilities Libraries Outdoor learning Public toilets Rural towns My top three demands to continue / increase council support are: 1) public toilets - an absolute essential in all towns, coastal villages to support tourism and rural villages where there are no alternative community facilities. 2) outdoor education provision - SAVE THE DOLPHIN HOUSE 3) save money by merging facilities rather than closing them - create indoor and outdoor leisure facilities at all secondary schools e.g. libraries / swimming pools / tennis courts / badminton courts / athletics facilities / dance studios. Make schools a 52 week / 7 days a week community resources as they already have car parking / toilets / catering facilities / changing rooms etc.
Education Events Leisure facilities Libraries Roads Stop The proposal to reduce roads maintenance is ridiculous given the current atrocious state of a large proportion of our roads and pavements. It is bad for residents and particularly for visitors and tourists who bring money to the area. They will stop coming! Ridiculous to even suggest the closure of Prestwick swimming pool. Just put the charges up and people will gladly pay to retain this valuable resource. Would it not be possible to move all libraries into secondary schools and sell the redundant buildings?
89 of 92 7 EMAILS/LETTERS FROM ORGANISATIONS There were emails, letters and briefings received from the following 12 organisations in response to savings proposals that could affect their organisation or people who participate in, contribute to or receive services from their organisations.
They include: Duke of Edinburgh Award – letter dated 13th December 2017 from the Director of Scotland, Barry Fisher, to the Council Chief Executive regarding opposition to the DofE Award proposed saving.
Ayr Action for Mental Health – letter dated 4th January 2018 from the Manager, Graham Wight, to the Council Chief Executive regarding the opposition to the proposed closure of the Prestwick swimming pool stating the pool’s usefulness and reasons why this pool is logistically better for them than other pools.
Scottish Library & Information Council – letter dated 18th January 2018 from the Chief Executive Officer, Pamela Tulloch, to the Council Leader regarding opposition to the proposal to remove school librarians and school library assistants.
Kingcase Primary School Primary 7 Pupils – letter dated 24th January 2018 from the P7 pupils to Councillors regarding their disheartenment and feeling appalled and ashamed that pupils within South Ayrshire will no longer have the opportunity to take part in activities at Dolphin House and the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme.
Friends of Fullarton, Troon Allotment Society, Fullarton Fairy Trail, Troon Easter Egg Hunt, Horse Riding Community, Fullarton Courtyard Residents Association, Marr Rugby Club and Troon Petanque Club – email received 24th January 2018 from representative, Crawford Young, to Councillors regarding the Fullarton Woods Toilet Block and opposition to its closure.
ENABLE Ayr & District SCIO – letter received 29th January 2018 from the swimming convenor, Ian Holland, to the Council Provost regarding opposition to the proposed closure of the Prestwick swimming pool. This organisation has been using the pool for nearly 30 year giving their group healthy exercise and improving their self-esteem.
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) – letter received via email 8th February from the Policy and Digital Officer, Sean McNamara, to the Leader and Deputy Leader explaining the importance of school libraries and the essential work carried out by school librarians and school library assistant posts in South Ayrshire.
South Ayrshire Youth Forum – Giving Young People A Voice – letter dated 6th February from the South Ayrshire Youth Forum to the Council Leader regarding their consultation with young people 11 to 26 and what they truly thought about the budget cuts. The most worry was about cuts to Education particularly school librarians but also mental health, Duke of Edinburgh Award and Dolphin House, music instrumental service and Prestwick pool.
Literature Alliance Scotland – letter dated 9th February from the Chair Peggy Hughes to the Council Leader regarding great concern at the proposed removal of school librarians and school library assistants.
90 of 92 Belmont Academy Parent Council – letter dated 9th February from the Chairperson Margo Catchart to the Director of People, Douglas Hutchison, regarding a number of issues in relation to the proposed savings that the Parent Council feel will have a major impact on not only ordinary students but especially students with additional support needs and the most vulnerable students.
Prestwick Academy – two letters were received from Prestwick Academy students with a petition signed by over 40 students to save the school library from proposed savings.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) – a Councillor Briefing: Music In Schools dated January 2018 was received as a means to update councillors on the provision of music in schools, particularly Instrumental music lessons.
8 PETITIONS Four petitions were received during the consultation period. Approximately 9,700 names or signatures were collected in total. Details of each as follows:
Prestwick Academy School Library Petition This petition has over 40 hand-written names, postcodes and signatures of students from Prestwick Academy. There were two letters addressed to Councillors stating how important and beneficial their school library is to them for their education and asking not to take away school libraries.
Save Prestwick Swimming Pool Petition (1) This petition has approximately 2,250 hand written names, addresses and signatures from people living locally in South Ayrshire.
Save Prestwick Swimming Pool Petition (2) This petition was organised using the on-line petition website: change.org and has a point of contact to follow up if required. There are approximately 900 names, their locations and comments from people mostly located in the local area and across Scotland but there are locations from the wider United Kingdom and a few from across the world like Australia and Canada.
Save Prestwick Swimming Pool Petition (3) This petition was organised using the on-line petition website: change.org. There are approximately 6,500 names and their locations from people mostly located in the local area and across Scotland and the wider United Kingdom but there a few from across the world like Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the USA.
91 of 92 9 EMAILS/LETTERS/NOTES FROM INDIVIDUALS There were 17 emails or letters received from individuals of the public via email or post and over 40 notes left in boxes at the various consultation events. A presentation from an unknown source was also left in a consultation box. Its subject was on South Ayrshire Council Budget Cuts with its summary encouraging viewers to: “Please vote against these proposals and help ensure the next generation receive the very best education that they deserve in South Ayrshire schools.”
Also found inside a box from an unknown source were briefing notes on library usage and the impact of school library cuts to a number of South Ayrshire Primary and Secondary schools including: Prestwick Academy, Belmont Academy, Girvan Academy, Coylton, Newton, and Dalmilling.
In total the correspondence included suggestions for savings and raising income as well as expressing disapproval or disagreement with the savings proposals and also in some cases highlighted concerns of the impact on their own personal circumstances. Issues raised, in no particular order, included: Dolphin House Duke of Edinburgh School crossing Education Music instrument service Schools – teachers, school assistants Public toilets Prestwick pool Increase council tax Garden waste Recycling Roads Community centres Listen to the public Support for those on low income but not on benefits H&SCP budgets Car parking make free Frontline services School mergers Kyle & Ayr academy, Braehead & Newton Primaries Reduce fees for leisure facilities for under 16 Increase fees astro-pitches Make survey results public Vulnerable people Stop calendars & tenant newsletters
10 WEBSITE FEEDBACK There were 17 separate pieces of feedback received from the Council website consultation landing page. They were predominantly about a lack of information available on the proposed savings and Council budgets. Some of this feedback may have been entered before completing the survey which did have more detail on the proposed savings and what the proposed savings could mean to people.
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