People from throughout Moray are being asked to make their feelings known over a raft of Moray Council cuts against the backdrop of millions being spent on a new road that is against the wishes of the community.
Moray Council have insisted that they will press ahead with an investment of over £8million to create a new approach road into Elgin. The development comes in spite of the local authority seeking to balance a £30million shortfall in their income over the next three years.
To help achieve savings, the Independent and Tory council administration says that they will close seven libraries and one mobile library, despite advice from their own officials that such a move could be illegal and the findings of an Equalities Impact Assessment.
Save our Libraries Moray has already taken the first steps towards legal action to halt the library closures – now the campaign group is calling on the people to make their feelings known in a march through Elgin this weekend.
Leading the joint campaign is Alistair Jeffs, who said: “The arguments being put forward by the leader of Moray Council are simply not acceptable.
“He insists that the road is required to ‘relieve congestion’ through Elgin – and yet the Scottish Government is already planning to do that with a bypass around the town as part of the dualling of the Aberdeen to Inverness route.
“At the same time he insists that our Libraries must close to save a little over £300k a year, ripping out services that are vital to the most vulnerable people in our communities.
“Libraries are needed now, a new link road is not – the economics are quite simple.
“Moray Council go to great lengths to convince us they are listening, going through the motions of expensive ‘consultations’ before taking decisions that quite simply fly in the face of what the people of Moray actually want them to do.
“That is why we are calling on people from every walk of life and every community to join us in the March for Moray this week. We hope that they will make their feelings known loud and clear to the politicians responsible for these reprehensible decisions.”
March for Moray will assemble at Glen Moray Drive in Elgin at 11.45 on Saturday, before marching through the High Street.