Certain public services will be protected from the threat of budget cuts until May 2027, Stirling Council has decided.
In a rare show of cross-party unity from council members, a motion to safeguard funding for libraries, music tuition, family support and nursery provision was passed unanimously during a special meeting on Thursday (March 20).
This means cuts cannot be proposed for those areas of expenditure for the duration of the current council administration.
The next Stirling Council election is due to take play on May 6, 2027.
The motion was tabled after councillors from all political parties voiced concern about the repeated, annual threat of funding cuts for these particular services (mainly affecting children, families and vulnerable members of society) during February’s Stirling Council budget setting meeting.
Councillors were united on the idea of creating an agreement to protect them.
Though proposed by Stirling East councillor Gerry McLaughlan and seconded by Trossachs and Teith’s Gene Maxwell, both of the SNP, the motion was welcomed and waved through by all parties on Thursday.
‘Yearly stress’ temporarily lifted for locals
The move comes after campaign groups and individuals from across the Stirling area fought passionately to defend school music tuition, nurseries and libraries, among other vital services, in the run-up to the council’s 2025-26 budget decision.
Children, teachers and their families staged a musical protest outside Stirling Council’s offices on February 13 to push back against a proposed £250,000 funding reduction.
They argued the cut would effectively end the 60-year service.
Parents of children enrolled at Aberfoyle Nursery told The Courier in February that the threat of losing the nursery had become a “yearly stress”, as they called for it to be saved for the third year running.
During the same special council meeting on Thursday, senior Stirling councillors were awarded a pay rise, with members voting in favour of the maximum salary increase available: £37,548 per person, per year.
As The Courier reported earlier this week, Stirling Council leader Gerry McGarvey will receive a salary boost of more than £14,000 from April 1, as per newly amended Scotland-wide regulations.
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