A CLACKS councillor is calling on the local authority to unleash its buying powers to regenerate the coronavirus-hit Wee County economy.

A motion around Clackmannanshire Council's procurement is set to be tabled at Kilncraigs tomorrow, October 22, by Councillor Dave Clark.

The representative is continuing with a campaign to make sure the council keeps as much spending as possible within its geographical boundaries – with coronavirus compounding economic worries.

The motion said: "This council acknowledges the enormous strain on Clackmannanshire's already fragile economy due to the coronavirus lockdown and will use our own procurement potential to its fullest to regenerate that economy both in the short and long term.

"We will also use our influence on our partner agencies to do likewise."

The motion is also calling on fellow elected members to recognise "our staffing complement is inadequate to accomplish such a complex task with the urgency needed".

To that end, the motion is seeking additional skilled staff to be appointed to undertake "this critical task" as part of the upcoming budget.

The councillor has previously made similar calls before the coronavirus crisis struck and its effects took hold.

Since then, he discussed the issue with his Labour Party's deputy leader MSP Jackie Baillie.

The MSP previously told the Advertiser: "We need to do more to stimulate the local economy.

"That means investing in infrastructure to help small and medium sized enterprises in Clacks, but also when you look at the public sector like the council, NHS and others – they don't really do much of their supply chain locally so procurement is a big thing."

Cllr Clark has been raising the issue of procurement in the past years and in 2018, council leader Cllr Ellen Forson said the maximisation of community benefits from council contracts is a "shared ambition" in all political corners of the Kilncraigs chamber.

The council's latest available Procurement Annual Report, for 2018-19, showed that the local authority worked with 107 suppliers from Clacks.

Core trade spending in the county amounted to 15.56 per cent of more than £63.5million.

The report said: "Whilst the share of spend in the local area is relatively low, it is also recognised that there is a fairly limited local supplier base with 107 local suppliers used, but work continues with local suppliers to provide opportunities to work with the council.

"The relatively small geographic areas covered by Clackmannanshire and small number of companies within the local area are likely to be key factors in the low share of spend."

However, the report at the time also revealed that the share of spending in the wider Forth Valley area equated to 41.18 per cent while it was 63.73 per cent in Scotland.

The council has since been encouraging Wee County suppliers to take advantage of one-to-one sessions with is procurement manager and has been working with the Supplier Development Programme.