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.

Tayside and Fife councils get boost for major projects but lose millions in core grants

Derek Mackay
Derek Mackay

Councils are getting a cash boost for major projects — but will still be millions of pounds worse off, new figures show.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has released a breakdown of his funding deal for local authorities following his draft budget last week.

In Tayside and Fife, councils are getting an extra £25m for capital spending in 2017/18, but their pot for day-to-day spending is being slashed by £28m.

Mr Mackay says the core grant reduction does not take into account extra cash that councils can raise from tax hikes, health and social care integration proceeds and funds going direct to headteachers to close the attainment gap.

His figures claim that once other sources of income are included Courier Country councils are £42m better off.

Eileen Rowand, the finance director of Labour-run Fife Council, rubbished the data produced by Mr Mackay.

“The figures presented do not reflect the funding that local government will receive from the Government as other funding streams are included,” she said.

“Councils have seen a cash reduction in their grant.”

Fife Council leader David Ross says that Mr Mackay’s claims of an increase in council funding are “frankly ridiculous”, adding 300 jobs are at risk at his local authority as it seeks to find estimated further savings of £35m.

He added the rise in the capital budget simply restores funding to a base level after last year’s cut.

Mr Mackay was confronted in Holyrood over a cut to local budgets in Holyrood on Thursday.

But he said the deal is being is considered by the umbrella group that represents most councils in Scotland.

“If local authorities are not happy with the settlement that I have given them, why has the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities not rejected it?” Mr Mackay told MSPs.

Councils will have to make a decision on whether to accept the settlement by January 13.

Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth & Kinross councils have all indicated they are looking seriously at raising council tax by 3%, the maximum hike permitted by the Scottish Government.