No idea why it didn’t go through, I now wonder how many other ’sent’ emails have actually vanished into the ether…

Mark

Just to let you know the parents of children who are in Bucksburn base are having a meeting on Thursday with the Evening Express in attendance. I agree this affects every school in Aberdeen and it will need MP level to affect any change but it doesn’t hurt to keep this in the press as it has had very little publicity to date.

yvonne

I too think Aberdeen is underfunded as I’ve quite vocally mentioned on the Evening Express/P&J site. It’s ludicrous how much money they send here. They think because the oil COMPANIES are here that the oil WEALTH is here and that, of course, is not the case. Anyone in oil doesn’t live in Aberdeen, they commute from the land of milk and honey that is Aberdeenshire. Cheaper housing, cheaper rates, better quality of life, better local authority funding and investment and no traffic! People with the oil money are spending it elsewhere so Aberdeen’s economy suffers as a result. This means that the people most in need of assistance from funding are incapable of finding the assistance required.

That said I think ACC has a long way to go to prove they are capable of properly managing any increase in provision from central government. They can’t properly manage the pittance they already get! They overspent by how many million at the last count? Now they cut spending on vital services to pay that back. I know it needs to be paid but can’t it happen over a longer time-scale or something? Something that leaves the council still able to provide the city with the services it needs at the same time as paying the overspend. I’m sure you are as frustrated as I Mark with the amount you have to divert.

I’m making the list of changes for the website in my head as we speak!

How many are ‘quite a few’ responses because Bucksburn and Newhills schools presented the council with over 1200 responses to another recent proposal and that had zero affect! Do you think they doth protest too much and secretly want it?

It might be better if all the money were in one pot, but that is not in my gift and would require a change in the rules set by the Treasury, and a certain Mr A. Darling.

As it is, I do believe the city has been and continues to be underfunded.

I am pleased that local government funding is being reviewed, but I realise people want things to change right now.

In terms of the website, why don’t you send me details of the changes you think should be made in order to make it more easily accessible and I can pass these on?

We actually got quite a few responses to the budget from members of the public and external organisations. Some of which led to changes to decisions - Auchmill Golf Course, branch libraries to name but two.

Mark

The system as it stands currently gives x amount of money for use in this and y amount for use in that. Oh and x and y must absorb saving z from ‘the city’. Put it all in one pot and say it’s for use by ‘the city’.

Then council officials and councillors can make cuts to such things as above without affecting other areas of actual necessity.

Would I care if the statue of Rabbie doesn’t get washed so much, no. Does the Provost’s pomp and ceremony to do with the ‘reputation of Aberdeen’ afect me - hell no.

Aberdeen’s reputation is already shot with the handling of these cuts. I just think that a budget as above with one pool of money would actually be a great help to councillors such as yourself Mark who would then have a wealth of other areas in which to make the savings.

I know the budgets are divided for operational reasons, but for the man on the street it appears wasteful to send someone to Norway for a chat on the public purse while on the other hand making decisions like this.

As for the opportunity for response to the budgets, I knew the proposals were on the site only after researching archived planning permission proposals & decisions in the area as part of my research for another reason a week or so ago accidentally turned them up.

Please correct me if I’m wrong but I’m willing to bet that I could well be the only person in Aberdeen(at the very least the only person with a passing interest in Bucksburn School) who did that search between November and now! These things are NOT well publicised. Aberdeen City Council’s website is a monster and non-intuitive in it’s implementation and navigation. Telling us after the decisions are made is hardly what I’d call well-publicised.

This is all my personal view on these general issues. I’d love to come to the council for a month and fix your website though - I once wrote to the webmaster informing him/her of a validation error that was affecting my weather watcher on the front page causing THIS site to have validation issues, which they fixed, promptly replacing it with another! I now pass all information from Aberdeen City through a tool I wrote myself to fix it - the ACC webmaster is incompetent!!

It’s a pity actually because the information IS all there, you just can’t get at it!! Perhaps I’ll provide an area on this site where the council could post information that affects us themselves (although I’m unsure if they could be trusted to manage that without screwing up something here too!) (I almost did </sarcasm> there but I’m not sure I’m being sarcastic actually!)

Thanks