| Comment | >Why close them?
Nae cash.
People talk like the problem is individual councillors, and believe me I've no intention of simping for the Frank McAveetys and Susan Aitkens of this world, but ultimately the hard reality is this:
Glasgow is Scotland's youngest city, Scotland's poorest city, Scotland's least healthy city, it has the largest proportion of people on benefits, the largest proportion of families with social work involvement, the highest number of schoolchildren, the largest proportion of refugees/asylum seekers, crumbling infrastructure for a city around 1/3rd larger than it is, and a naturally-increasing population.
Against all of this, a vast chunk of the professionals who generate wealth in Glasgow use that wealth to live outside the city - the most common move in Scotland is Glasgow to South Lanarkshire. So unlike Edinburgh and Aberdeen, neighbouring authorities benefit from council tax on homes paid for by Glasgow people working in Glasgow companies.
So you have a local authority which, by law, has huge fixed costs in infrastructure, education and social care and which has to balance this out by making savings elsewhere, in the face of a shrinking council tax base. The result is fewer bin collections and amenity closures. |
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