COUNCILLORS are set to agree to controversial plans to spend more than £112,000 on repairing historic desks and chairs for their monthly meetings.
The move was today branded "astonishing" and "appalling" by union leaders and opposition politicians, at a time when front-line services face repeated cutbacks.
Public sector union Unison said the money could pay for more than three social workers
or six home helps – job areas currently under pressure due to massive budget problems.
The individual throne-like Davenport leather chairs and desks were designed in 1904 for the City Chambers, but most are now kept in storage.
At the monthly full council meetings, politicians currently sit on modern beech chairs behind long wooden desks. Officials today said this set-up is "poor and conflicts with the conserved interior" of the main debating chamber.
Councillors will vote next week on the recommendation to refurbish 64 desks and chairs – an average of £800 per piece of furniture – with the Lib Dem/SNP administration known to be generally in favour of the move.
The two other options would be to keep the current arrangement, at no additional cost, or purchase brand new desks and chairs at a price of around £150,000.
Labour group leader Andrew Burns said today: "My own view is that now is not the time to renew or refurbish City Chambers furniture.
"In the last few months school budgets have been cut, nursery school hot meals have been abandoned, numerous voluntary organisations have seen funding reduced and community centres are losing full-time workers."
A spokesman for Unison added: "When front-line services in Edinburgh are being cut across the board, this seems at the very least to be ill-judged timing."
Four contractors have now provided estimates for the repair work, and officials have selected Phoenix Conservation at a cost of £93,712. On top of that, there are professional fees of £8640 and around £10,000 would be spent on new furniture to replace any historic items currently used in council offices.
City leader Jenny Dawe said today: "This historic furniture is a civic asset. Different people put a different price on preserving our heritage, but this administration considers that we should take advantage of this opportunity not only to preserve it, but to see it in practical use within the City Chambers.
"To do otherwise would mean selling the chairs or allowing them to decay, and neither would be the right decision for the city.
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Deputy council leader Steve Cardownie added: "The desks and chairs belong to the city, not the council."
The full article contains 440 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
