THE SNP administration at Clackmannanshire Council has come under fire following a “damning” report into their decision-making in approaching public spending.

An audit by independent financial advisors at Deloitte found “limited traction in terms of engagement by the council in agreeing on priorities and next steps and in tackling difficult decisions head-on”.

The firm argued the administration is lacking direction in their plans to make the necessary expenditure savings, while maintaining vital public services.

Their report was presented to the council’s Resource and Audit Committee meeting on Thursday (September 24) at Kilncraigs and sparked a heated debate among the elected members.

Labour’s Bobby McGill described the publication as the “most damning report” to ever come before the committee and urged SNP councillors to take swift action.

However, administration councillors assured the chamber that they were gathering evidence to inform their course of action under the Making Clackmannanshire Better (MCB) programme.

This initiative was introduced by the council to “meet the changing needs” of the county, amid ongoing multi-million pounds’ worth of cost-cutting measures.

The Deloitte report read: “We are concerned that the pace and scale of delivery from the programme is not yet sufficient to meet the council’s stated objectives and to address the council’s very significant short-to-medium-term financial challenges.”

It added: “There is evidence of significant and difficult decisions being deferred by the council for over a year. This includes decisions on schools estates strategy, leisure services and reviews of discretionary spending.

“There also does not yet appear to be political consensus around the current policy position on certain of the more difficult areas for decision and prioritisation.

“Based on our discussions there still appears to be a wide range of views within the administration, with some members accepting that prioritisation and difficult decisions were inevitable whilst others were less persuaded that this was necessary and still see the use of reserves as the main solution to the medium term financial challenges.

“This lack of consensus, prioritisation and decision-making has resulted in a lack of feedback and direction for officers and, in our opinion, is starting to create an impasse and understandable frustration between the Council members and key officers.”

In a related Deloitte report it was said that, since 2011-12, the council has approved savings of £21.2m while in the same period £33.7m savings were required to deliver a balanced budget. As such, the council has been heavily reliant on reserves for a prolonged period of time.

It added that in the 2015/16 budget round, while MCB generated savings of £3m, £6.7m savings were required to balance the budget.

Speaking to the reports at Thursday’s committee meeting, Jim Boyle, audit partner with Deloitte told councillors that a “lack of direction and decision-making was starting to impede progress” and was beginning to “strain relationships between councillor members and officers”.

He said: “Clackmannanshire is not alone in having financial challenges. In fact it is in the top quartile of those local authorities which are experiencing financial difficulties.

“But unless significant progress is made in the rest of the 2015 calendar year we do not believe that the objectives of Making Clackmannanshire Better will be achieved.”

Mr McGill said the administration has used financial reserves to “prevent having to make difficult decisions” and as a result have been “building up more pain”.

The Labour councillor said: “All we are doing is building up pressure year on year for this council. It’s quite clear that the administration are a bit like ferrets in a sack – all fighting each other.

“Make Clackmannanshire Better has been going on for three years now but the administration still cannot agree on a direction of travel. Council officers are desperate for guidance.”

He added: “I fear that the impact which the inaction of the present SNP administration will cause to services provided by our council to the people we serve in Clacks.

"I fear that those who rely most on council services will be hit the hardest and that many jobs of hard-working men and women in the council will be lost.

“The report from Deloitte is a wake-up call. It hammers home to the administration the issue we as an opposition have raised with them time and time again. They can no longer ignore this; for the good of the county they must act.”

SNP Craig Holden responded by saying the administration would “not look at compulsory redundancies” for council staff and slammed Labour for not offering constructive criticisms.

He said: “There has been a great deal of squealing (from the opposition) but very little by way of constructive solutions.”

Council leader Les Sharp hit back at Mr McGill’s claims that the SNP group was not willing to work with Labour.

He said: “Since I took over as leader in October, we have been far more open with opposition colleagues than in the past. We’re not hiding behind closed doors.

“The difficult decisions are coming, but it takes time. No one wants to have to make them but the UK Government is forcing our hand; we have no option but to take things forward.”

Councillor Donald Balsillie added: “We can’t sugar-coat the issue we are facing; it is a real financial problem brought on as a direct consequence of austerity. Making Clackmannanshire Better is absolutely a key policy area and it is taking time to formulate.”