Clackmannanshire Council leader Les Sharp says the county got a “fair deal” of around £100million funding from the Scottish Government, but the budget is going to be “challenging”.

The leader of the administration spoke to the Advertiser after all 32 Scottish councils accepted Holyrood's funding deal, worth £10.3billion in total, yesterday.

He said: “From a Clackmannanshire perspective it's a relatively fair deal.

“When you look at what's happening down south, where 30-40 per cent cuts are the norm, and we are looking at three – it's a fair deal. I think what John Swinney's done is he's allowed us to look at how we spend the money and give us a bit of leeway by looking at the integrated joint boards.

He said more integrated services between the council and the NHS will be “the future of health and social care”, adding: “[...] it's allowing us to change how we spend our money and focus on how we look at the future of health and social care in Clackmannanshire in a real positive way.”

Les Sharp also highlighted how council tax rates have been raised by many councils in England and Wales, but the Scottish Government is giving a share of £70 million to local authorities to keep it frozen, and the council is “not losing out on it”.

The council needs to be “practical” about spending, said Mr Sharp, who also told the Advertiser that the council is working towards reducing revenue costs, some of which is paying back borrowed money.

He revealed that for every £1 million borrowed, the council pays-back £70,000 a year and that the council has capped its borrowing.

He added: “The more we borrow the more we got to pay back and the more we got to pay back the less there is to spend on front-line services.

“Local government needs to look and live within its means and be really practical about how we spend money. Not just within [the council], but with our partners, such as NHS and say: 'Are we duplicating things?'. I can guarantee that we are.

“We've got all sorts of services that we duplicate. Why are we doing that? It's nonsense. And it's nonsense for people who come to us, but not only do they see it, and the public these days are very much more aware of the financial situations, but they also see it when they are telling the same story about their health and wellbeing two-three-four-five times to different people. Instead of it being told once and actually getting some treatment or some attention for it.”

Mr Sharp said the “logical way forward” is more integration and collaboration between the third sector, public services like the NHS and the council.

As to how much exactly the Wee County is receiving is not clear yet, he explained that accountants are still working towards a final figure as the funding comes in smaller packages and the calculation is “quite complex”. He said the administration is expecting a funding gap of £10 million compared to last year, this includes reductions by the council itself.

He added: “We know we got less than last year and that's what we are working on. We are working on a net figure of about £100 million.”