Colleagues

As you will all be aware we are nearing the home straight in the most intensive and wide-ranging budget consultation ever undertaken by the council as it seeks to bridge the gap in its finances and identify the significant savings that will require to be made in the coming year and in future years. 

Social media has played an important role in this exercise and I think it is fair to say that the feedback it has generated from all sectors of the community has exceeded our expectations. 

The consultation draws to a close on October 14 following which work will begin on analysing the responses ahead of the budget setting process. 

Although it has played a huge part, social media, however, has not been the only channel through which we have been obtaining views and opinions on where savings might be found. 

Last week, for example, I attended a meeting held at Elgin Academy which was made up of a number of focus groups representing a broad spectrum of interests from across the community. They included groups of young people, elderly people and those with disabilities as well as groups from the local business sector, sport, parent councils and community-based organisations. 

In all, around 70 people took part and they were presented with six key questions to help stimulate focused discussion. Given their respective special interests there was, not surprisingly, a wide range of views expressed and suggestions put forward. 

I think that all of us who were present found it a very useful and constructive afternoon, the results of which will all be fed into the budget setting process, and I believe that everyone involved in the discussion groups went away with a clearer understanding of the very real financial challenges facing the council. 

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone involved, including staff members who acted as facilitators, for making it such an outstanding success. 

The upcoming budget considerations will continue to be to be high on any council agenda in the weeks and months ahead and have been very much to the fore at recent listening meeting I have attended, at the leadership forum and at the first of this year’s employee conferences at Forres and at Buckie. 

However, the last month has not all been about the budget and I was pleased when Moray Council played host to a summit of education directors and heads of service from all over the north at which issues of common interest and concern were aired. 

It has been a varied few weeks in many ways and has included events as diverse as a meeting with the Controller of Audit in Edinburgh and the launch at Darnaway Castle of The Book of the Howlat which, research has established, was written at the castle in the 15th Century and which has only recently been rediscovered. 

It seems it was written in verse by the chaplain to the then Earl of Moray before lying forgotten in the vaults of the castle until its authenticity was confirmed by experts only a couple of years or so ago. 

Still on a literary theme, I attended the opening of the Spirit of Moray book festival at Elgin library and I never cease to be amazed at the quality of speakers from the world of books that our libraries service manages to attract. 

Moray’s unrivalled reputation for food and drink was further enhanced by an innovative event at Elgin Town Hall where many of the area’s top producers came together for Spirit of Speyside: Distilled. 

It was wonderful to see, under one roof, the amazing selection of whiskies, beer and other products that originate from our small corner of Scotland. 

I was also delighted to be invited to the launch of an ambitious £5million-plus project which will breathe new life into the Cabrach in the form of a heritage centre and a working distillery, all of which will bring a welcome shot in the arm to the economy of the area. 

Other noteworthy events of the past few weeks included the military parade and reception in Elgin as part of this year’s Highland Tattoo programme and a visit to Elgin Town Hall by Scottish Opera. 

I also went along to bid Auf Wiedersehen to our friends from Landshut at the end of yet another highly successful visit to Elgin which marked the 60th anniversary of one of the most enduring twin town links between Scotland and Germany. 

Things have been so hectic for us all that the tattie holidays have crept up on us almost unnoticed and I’m sure many of you will be enjoying a break over the next couple of weeks or so. Whatever you have planned, I hope you have a well-deserved good time.