MORE money is coming to Argyll and Bute' under the Scottish Government's 2017-18 spending plans – but the news has been met with a mixed response from local politicians.

As part of the SNP administration's budget plans, which were backed by the Scottish Greens at Holyrood last week, Argyll and Bute will receive a £3.1 million share of £160m in additional funds for Scotland's councils.

In Argyll and Bute, that means an extra £2.36 million in revenue funding and a further £733,000 for capital projects as the local authority prepares to set its own spending plans for 2017-18 later this month.

Council leader Dick Walsh told the Advertiser: “Any increase in the funding allocation to local government is welcome. 

“Like other councils, we are now assessing the implications of this new information for our area, with the support of COSLA, ahead of February 23, when the council is due to set its budget.”

Councillors in Argyll and Bute will be asked to approve a 3 per cent increase in council tax when they set their spending plans for the new financial year.

But Helensburgh SNP councillor James Robb said the extra cash meant there was now no need for services to be cut in Argyll and Bute over the next 12 months – and warned against a 'give-away' council budget ahead of May's local authority elections.

Councillor Robb said: “The additional funding from the Scottish Government on top of the increases in council tax bands E to H secured by council leaders through COSLA will leave the Argyll and Bute Council budget for 2017-18 in surplus.

“There is no need for councillors to further increase council tax across the board next year.

“There is no need for councillors to make cuts to any services or to increase fees and charges in the upcoming budget.

“The bad news is the forecast overspend in the following two years is over £12m so many very difficult decisions on cuts lie ahead.

“There is a need for councillors to resist the temptation of a give-away election budget, for the first and biggest challenge for new and returning councillors after May will be to address the future budget deficits.”

Argyll and Bute Council's head of strategic finance, Kirsty Flanagan, has warned councillors of an increasing funding gap over recent months – in her most recent assessment, in December, Ms Flanagan predicted a shortfall of between £4.3m and £13.9m in 2017-18, and a three-year funding gap which could grow to £42 million.

Helensburgh Liberal Democrat councillor and Argyll and Bute depute leader Ellen Morton said: “There is a lack of clarity around all of this, which is unsatisfactory, with budgets having to be set within weeks.

“Whatever the figure is, we still face a significant cut on top of the cuts of previous years while the Scottish Government is not spending all the money it got from Westminster.

“This extra money was available to be given to us all along and seems to have mainly come from Scottish Government underspends, but again that is not clear.”

The pledge of an additional £160 million for councils was crucial to the SNP administration at Holyrood receiving backing for its spending plans from the Scottish Greens.

The Greens' West of Scotland MSP, Ross Greer, said: “It is fantastic that Green MSPs have secured Holyrood’s largest ever budget concession, including £3.1 million for Argyll and Bute.

“Now we can start repairing the damage done by years of underfunding and lack of local flexibility.

"I’m delighted that only months after having been elected I have managed to deliver tens of millions of pounds to councils across my region, money which would otherwise have been cut by the SNP.

“This will avoid more classroom assistants and care workers being cut, local services reduced and charges increased. It’s now up to the council to decide its spending priorities.

“Other parties effectively ruled themselves out of constructive dialogue. Our Green MSPs have achieved more in a single budget than the Labour Party has in a decade of opposition.”