Just under two hours spent this morning attending a full meeting of Aberdeenshire Council.

Councillors agreed to review the council’s five-year plan – agreed in 2017 – in light of the disruption caused by the pandemic and to ensure that council services are fit for the new normal, whatever that may be.

Chief executive Jim Savege said an uncertain future lies ahead, and council leader Jim Gifford commented that progression through recovery is unlikely to be smooth.

The report predicts long term recovery will take two years or more. A key sentence says that “we must not raise public expectations unreasonably of a level of service that cannot be sustained in the future.”

We had two votes on the recommendations from officers, with the same result both times, 55-3.

You can read the reports and listen to a recording of the meeting at https://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=1&meetid=19749