A Long Way To Tipperary

I was in the company of two ladies travelling to Ayr on a bus recently. They suggested to me that given the appalling state of this country's economy, it would be a very long road before we saw any type of financial recovery. They then of course asked how the council was going to tackle the consequences that inevitably will come to pass. I suggested that if the bus had been going to Penzance rather than Ayr, I might have been able to give them a bigger picture as to what the council is trying to put in place, in tackling the challenges that will affect every one of us.

Yes, it will be a long rocky road but where there are challenges there are also opportunities. Some of them, we may well have thought about but never really felt the need to pursue them as a matter of priority. Now with changed circumstances where every pound is going to have to work much harder, new opportunities begin to emerge.

I would offer one example, Grounds Maintenance, it covers all the golf courses, public open spaces, public parks, horticulture ect. We now intend integrating them with the street cleansing services across the whole of South Ayrshire. This will reduce operating costs through rationalisation of vehicles, plant, equipment, supplies and services. Depot sharing will contribute along side sharing support services with other Councils to generate savings. East Ayrshire Council is now maintaining our fleet of small horticultural plant, and joint working on procurement of supplies and services are reaping further monetary savings for both councils. All of this is critical in driving down the overall cost to the tax payer.

There is also an opportunity to bring Grounds Maintenance together with Waste Management into a new grouping called 'Street Scene'. Again rationalising depots and much of the equipment used by both disciplines, coupled with wider joint working with both North and East Ayrshire Councils, will raise efficiency while driving down costs. These are just a few examples off the type of changes we are putting in place to extract the best possible value out of the money we all pay in council tax.

Anyway, by the time we all got to Ayr I think the ladies wished I had been in Tipperary and were probably glad to see the back of me. So the moral to the tale is, even if you only want a quick chat, be careful what you wish for.

Peter Convery