IT is an annual event that draws thousands to Britain’s most popular park to support the bravery and sacrifice of the military.
But the hugely popular Armed Forces Day Family Fun Day at Rouken Glen Park in Giffnock is facing the axe under council plans to make £26million of savings. East Renfrewshire Council has announced it is looking at making savings of £1.23m across various departments, including in its communications team, which run the event, with staff no longer working at desks but “in an agile way”.
But according to the council this will also mean that the Armed Forces Day fun event will no longer be resourced. The event, which regularly attracts more than 6,000 people, opens with a flag-raising ceremony followed by a parade featuring veterans, reservists, cadets and serving soldiers, marching to the pipes and drums.
A range of family activities was on offer this year including a bike display team, a farmers’ market, outdoor laser quest, zorb football, archery and an inflatable assault course.
Armed Forces Day is a national celebration held to give people the chance to show support for those who have sacrificed themselves for their country, from serving troops and service families to veterans and cadets.
A council document says: “With a reduced resource within our communications team there will no longer be the capacity to continue running the annual Armed Forces Day fun day event. The Armed Forces Day flag-raising ceremony attended by veterans from across the area would be retained.”
East Renfrewshire is planning to making £26m worth of savings and axe hundreds of jobs but will also increase council tax bills by nearly 10 per cent.
The council, which includes the affluent suburbs of Giffnock and Newton Mearns, has launched a public consultation on setting its budget for the next three years in which it projects the shortfall.
Council tax bills for residents will rise by three per cent in each of the next three years and follows a similar rise this year.
It will put more than £100 on the annual average Band D rate and will see 300 posts lost – around nine per cent of the total workforce. East Renfrewshire is also looking to make “significant” cuts of £9m in its education budget.
This would see class sizes rise in schools, fewer classes in secondaries and all pupil support assistants phased out in just four years.
The Labour-SNP coalition-led council also plans a 10 per cent reduction in its roads budget and a huge £9.11m cut in health and social care.
It comes as councils are facing a financial black hole of more than half a billion pounds in only two years’ time unless they make major cuts, according to an official analysis.
More than one-third of Scotland’s 32 local authorities will face a funding gap that is greater than the amount of cash they have in reserves, its report said, despite managing their funds well in the face of deep cuts by the Scottish Governments to their grants.
A council spokesman said: “We would continue to recognise and honour the contribution of our Armed Forces, past and present, through our annual Armed Forces Day flag-raising ceremony at Rouken Glen Park attended by veterans from across the area and armed forces personnel.”
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