A FORMER countryside ranger in Clacks has issued a plea to thwart plans looking to cut the service she worked for.

Gabriele Rice-Grunert is hoping to fight off a £20,000 cut to the Ranger Service, which, according to official documents, would involve a “redesign” to ensure “only statutory duties are met for land reform, biodiversity and climate change”.

Clackmannanshire Council's budget engagement paper also adds that this would involve “removing all discretionary services”.

Gabriele fears that if cuts go ahead, Wee County children will miss out on outdoor learning, nature conversation activists may lose their council links, outdoor enthusiasts will experience less support while wildlife will enjoy less protection.

It is understood that the service could be reduced to two part-time workers sharing a full-time role, something Gabriele fears would force them behind the desk with further roles to be fulfilled.

She said: “There is one very fundamental thing, which is that for any work in the outdoors that is in any shape or form risky, there has to be two people going out at the same time.

“As these are job-shares they only ever meet on Wednesday, so any work in the outdoors can only ever happen on a Wednesday, which is already quite ridiculous.”

She also fears that projects centred around Gartmorn Dam Country Park, arguably one of the most attractive of places in the county, could be hit by cuts.

Gabriele, who worked with the service for a year in the past and is a local outdoor enthusiast, added: “The management plan has just been drawn up [last] month and finalised.

“There are so many actions in there that are vital for the future of the park – one of the big problems is the water quality is falling.

“To have work done, to have research [carried out] into why that happens and how it can be helped in the future – that all needs leadership and that is where the Ranger Service comes in.”

She also claimed that at a recent engagement drop-in event, she could not get clear answers on what the earmarked-for-removal discretionary services area.

Furthermore, she said that she was told the wording in the council’s engagement booklet was not entirely correct and should not read “only” statutory duties and not “all” discretionary services as some would remain.

When asked for clarity, a council spokeswoman told the Advertiser: “The council is undertaking organisation-wide re-design as it deals with the challenges of having to make savings and delivering on its new priorities and outcomes.

“The council is focusing on the priorities set out in the new corporate plan, while at the same time ensuring it meets its statutory duties.

“The re-design of the sustainability service is in line with this, to ensure there is a focus as much as possible on the statutory duties, ie, land reform duties, biodiversity duties and climate change duties.”