Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Calls for sports charitable trust to be at heart of council’s budget deal

Aberdeenshire Council's HQ.
Aberdeenshire Council's HQ.

Calls have been made for the proposed overhaul of sport and leisure in the north-east to be at the heart of budget negotiations.

In the biggest change for a generation, Aberdeenshire Council is considering creating a charitable trust to oversee leisure in the region.

The proposal would save the taxpayer around £1million every year. Unlike the council, a charitable trust would not have to pay businesses rates.

Now the members of the Democratic Independent and Green Group (Digg) Martin Ford and Paul Johnston have called for consideration of the trust to be part of wider budget consultations.

Draft budget proposals will be unveiled by all the council’s political groups next Thursday before the public are consulted ahead of a final decision in February.

Last night Mr Ford said: “I’m really not keen on the charitable trust proposal for future delivery of sport and cultural services.

“If it was not for the potential financial benefits – possibly betterment in excess of £1million per annum – I don’t think the option would be under consideration.

“As it is, given the financial pressures on the council and anticipated need for future savings, using a council-owned charitable trust to deliver sport and cultural services has to be given serious consideration.”

Mr Ford has already described the project as a multimillion-pound “tax avoidance” scheme.

It is expected the council will have to make significant spending cuts in the coming budget, on top of savings already announced earlier this year.

Mr Johnston added: “As a group, the Digg aim to have a range of draft budget proposals ready for the November full council meeting, and will welcome the opportunity to get feedback and comment on these before the council sets its revenue budget

for 2017-18 next February.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The council’s education, learning and leisure committee recommended that full council consider the most appropriate form of consultation on the future delivery of sports and cultural services.

“This will form part of councillors’ discussions when they meet on November 24.”