Proposals to double the budgets for Aberdeenshire Councils Area Committees have been put forward for discussion.
Currently the councils six area committees each have a budget of £52,000 a year, under the proposals this will rise to £105,000 in the next financial year
Talking about the proposals Cllr Martin Kitts-Hayes Co-leader of Aberdeenshire Council said
The proposal to double the investment in area top-up budgets demonstrates that we recognise that some of the best solutions to respond to local challenges come by connecting people, communities, areas, organisations and ideas.
Our area committees play an important role in representing Aberdeenshire Council locally, and they have a very detailed understanding of local issues.
We are making significant investment in regeneration of our communities, particularly in the north of Aberdeenshire. However, we recognise that the area top-up budgets play an important role in meeting local needs and investing in initiatives that are locally very important to communities.
More details of the proposal will be discussed at a future meeting of the full council as part of the overall budget and priority setting process and the chairs for the six area committees, supported by area managers, will develop proposals to refresh the criteria for how the budget will be targeted and will be reported back to full council in due course.