West Dunbartonshire council is considering buying a £24,000 oil painting while proposing to charge disabled people for vital services.
Councillors are looking to splash out on the fancy artwork even though local residents are facing a barrage of cuts.
Labour councillor Martin Rooney said of the plan: “It’s absurd at the best of times but completely bonkers in the middle of a cost of living crisis”.
SNP -led West Dunbartonshire is facing a series of tough choices over how to plug a projected £5.5m funding black hole.
A list of cuts options were presented to councillors last week, including reducing the number of pupils who qualify for school travel and introducing fees for brown bin collections.
Other options include charging over 65s and disabled people for a garden maintenance service they currently receive for free, as well as reducing the number of school crossing patrollers.
Officials also drew up proposals to scale back street sweeping, close public toilets and remove elderly welfare grants.
Despite the prospect of service cuts, the local authority is considering using its budget to boost its art collection.
A meeting of the council’s Cultural Committee, chaired by Independent Denis Agnew, was scheduled for last week but did not take place.
An email had been sent to councillors about an “urgent item of business” which was “at the request” of Agnew.
Attached was an image of “Evelick” - a painting by Scottish artist Alison Watt - which has a price tag of £24,000 excluding VAT.
A Committee paper from last month stated that officers had continued to research “acquisition opportunities” and make contact with selling galleries:
“A particular focus of this activity has been on identifying works by Alison Watt currently available on the open market. It has not been possible to bring any firm recommendation to Committee on purchasing any works by Watt at this time.
“Should a suitable work by Watt be identified by officers, they will seek to bring this before Committee as a matter of urgency.”
It is understood a decision on the purchase will be taken by members of the Committee on Friday.
It was reported in December that child poverty has continued to rise over the past six years in West Dunbartonshire – with an extra 500 young people forced to live in poverty during that period.
Reports from last year showed that 4189 children in the council area live in poverty.
Rooney added: “I’m absolutely appalled that the SNP Council is giving this serious consideration.
“West Dunbartonshire has some of the worst areas of deprivation in Scotland, child poverty was already on the rise, life chances for our young people are limited, pensioners are facing sky-high fuel bills, and demand for help from foodbanks is increasing.
“The real matter of urgency in our area is the cost of living crisis but the SNP’s priority is to spend almost £28,000 on an oil painting that will be locked away in a cupboard. How can the SNP justify this?”|
A spokesperson for the council said: “In March 2018 the Council agreed to create a £4m Cultural Capital Fund to invest in West Dunbartonshire’s cultural and heritage infrastructure. From this, £100,000 was committed to establish an Acquisition Fund to purchase fine art works with a particular emphasis on works by Scottish women artists.”
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