Council Top Dogs Insult Wrexham Public
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Just read the statements by Chief Exec Bankroft and Clr Pritchard in regards to the increase of 5.5% on the council tax in the next financial year.
What is the point of even consulting the public where 500+ have heavily criticised any proposed increases in relation to the high costs versus loss in value from service cuts.
Then for them to have the cheek to say that we’ll run out of money in 2 years time and services will stop altogether. That to me smacks of complete incompetence – especially when several of the responses in the article from the public make valid and constructive suggestions on what should be cut or how revenue should be increased to actually balance the books and make things work over the next few years.
It is quite simply not acceptable for them to make excuses that other councils are doing worse than us so they can run such poor service provision – when they should be looking to councils of similar sized populations that are actually doing well.
The way things are – there is actually less and less incentive to remain living in this town – I do so out of a sense of home town loyalty and close family ties. However, with the state of the schools, roads, infrastructure, other public services. It’s never crossed my mind until the last 12 months or so, but I’d honestly consider moving across to Oswestry way, or up towards Hawarden – where cost of living is similar but there’s a chance of a better standard of living for myself and my children. When the senior figures of this town are acting like we’re on a sinking ship – how is anyone else going to gain enthusiasm to want to live here. The lack of firm and positive and decisive action or words is insulting and harmful to Wrexham residents and businesses set-up in this area – acting like it’s a complete write off.
There’s only so many times you can put a brave face on and make a defence for how things are going in this town in the face of such a bleak outlook. If I were an elected councillor and really couldn’t make a go of things like this shower on the Executive board have been doing for the past few years – I’d do the decent thing and resign and let someone else have a go.
Well, it’s what people voted for when they voted Conservative. They’re the party of austerity cuts aren’t they?
As much as I don’t like the Tory Westminster Government, I’m talking about the lack of competence delivered from the so-called Independent-led Wrexham Council on a local level. As easy as it is to scapegoat – we can’t blame May, Hammond & Co for everything that has happened in Wrexham when poor decisions have been made – we technically also have a layer of Labour in the Welsh Government as well.
There are so many bad things that have happened since Plasmadocgate split local Labour and pushed us into an independent ran council.
Kingdom, Hundreds and thousands of money Wasted over the Groves Site, Rampant open Spice Drug Abuse in the town centre, Homeless Shanty Towns, Ghost Shopping Regions, Potholes, Failing and Cash Strapped Schools, Failure to deliver a new leisure centre as promised to replace tired Waterworld, Car Crime through the roof still, street lights left off in some areas at night to save money. Ty Pawb launch debacle. Councillors insulting and making jokes about the mentally ill as if we were in the Victorian era during a recorded planning debate.
Then the apparent successes seem to always exaggerate the greatness of one-off annual events such as the Christmas Light Switch on and the Victoria Christmas Market. We want things to be better all year round, not just for half a day on a few days a year.
Matt your listing is only really the start of all of the failings that the Council have overseen- you can include schools in Special Measures, those on the brink, huge failings in the support for children and young people through CAMHS (mental health services) , £1 million required for potholes. If the bank is empty now that there is only one direction for all these services to go and that is down. Any staff worth their salt will be looking to decamp to jobs with other Local Authorities leaving an ever-increasing level of inexperienced staff to try and manage a downward spiral.
Wrexham would be better off seeing the Council go ‘bankrupt’ and the Welsh Government take over the management under a special measures arrangement the same as they did in Anglesey.
A depressing start for 2019 that is likely to continue throughout the year.
We did get some nice new Christmas lights though so isn’t it a small price to pay?
Obviously I am joking and it’s the same old same old from the council. When 17 councillors voted against the LDP with valid reasons and then it was railroaded through, tells us all we need to know. They just give lip service and then do what they want.
The council is for Wrexham County Borough, not just Wrexham town itself. Most people seem to judge the council on this site by what is happening in Wrexham town centre. Firstly most people in the county borough live outside Wrexham town. Secondly most people in the county borough earn their living outside the town. Thirdly, a large number live their lives without going anywhere near the town unless they absolutely need to – there are some great alternatives nearby: Whitchurch, Chester, Oswestry… People seem to be under the delusion that Wrexham is somehow the most important place in the lives of people in the county borough – it’s not and in the 21st century, the place is going to have to work harder and more intelligently to be important in local people’s lives. it is just the biggest town, which brings benefits, but also a whole stack of problems. It would be interesting to know what people outside the town think – people in rural areas and villages across the UK have a totally different expectation of what councils do and can achieve compared to those living in urban areas – and that may be true for this area as well.
Ioan – I already live out in the sticks and my service provision complaints and remarks on overall council performance refers to Wrexham equally on a county level.
As Wrexham town is the main area of population within the county and effectively where the decision makers and rate payers money for the whole county goes – it is unavoidable that the town itself is going to face certain levels of criticism itself.
I don’t exactly think the current Executive’s performance has been pretty good on an overall county level anyway – rural services and community facilities being cut all the time. Post Office closures, rural business and village shop closures, GP surgeries closing and merging, planning decisions unfit for purpose where they want to build houses on areas that will put pressure on local infrastructure or land at high risk of flooding and subsistence. Insufficient bus services serving the rural areas – I know these are privatised but the council is in charge of securing the provision or providing subsidies to make sure that a full service is ran and that those who rely on bus services are not isolated. School funding shortages still apply in rural schools. Like Derek came up with other issues of town council failings – I’m sure those with a broader knowledge or their local rural issues have a whole other list of how WCBC have mismanaged their local area.
The reason there are people who live in the county but don’t use the town centre is because they can afford not to – they have cars and have the option to shop in Llangollen, Oswestry, Chester, Shrewsbury, Mold, Cheshire Oaks, Broughton etc… But if there was a decent town centre offering then people would be attracted in and it would promote regeneration. So it’s a Catch-22 situation.
There are some (both rural and urban) who don’t have the luxury of making a living and shopping outside of Wrexham town centre. They have no choice but to rely on the town centre and the public transport to get there. So it basically creates a 2-tier Town and County – those who can afford to go elsewhere and those who can’t.
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