Oct 16th D-Day – Examples Of Possible Council Cuts
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If the council are thinking about axing school crossing patrols I hope they think twice after watching the Pride Of Britain awards this week, if it wasn’t for that lollipop lady 6 children would all be dead, and it will happen here if the patrols are axed a 100% certainty
This council could save money by cutting the number of Councilors,& making wards bigger.After all they are Employed by the Council.Stop the use of consultants,after all the big earners in the council should be able to identify areas were money is to be saved.Stop paying the Police for PCSOs.If the police want that many,let them pay for them.
To raise money.Stop the use of Free Public Toilets.if you use them pay for them.Charge for parking on High St.@Rob 9445 wrote:
The report gives an example of possible ‘reshaping’ of an ‘average sized Welsh Council’. To be clear this is not proposals for Wrexham but an illustration on how cuts could appear:
A 25% reduction in spend on planning in 2014/15
[/quote]Isn’t the fee for submitting an planning application supposed to cover the cost of it?@Rob 9445 wrote:
Close down all sports and leisure facilities if they cannot be transferred to third sector or operated commercially (without subsidy) by mutual or arms-length organisations[/quote]Does Waterworld not make a profit for the council? The gym membership isn’t particularly cheap and the swimming pool is always packed when I’ve been.
@Rob 9445 wrote:
Reduce highways spend by a quarter in 2015/16[/quote]
For a start:- Not resurfacing roads then resurfacing again a couple of months later (the road up to Legacy)
- Fixing potholes before doing surface dressing so the new surface lasts longer would (Rhostyllen, Bwlchgwyn etc.)
- Getting contractors back to fix shoddy workmanship so the council doesn’t have to pay for it
But the highways department is only a very small amount of the council’s budget anyway and I think it’s been cut substantially year on year.
@Rob 9445 wrote:
Switch off up to 50% of street lights from midnight to 5am in 2014/15 and all from 2015/16[/quote]I thought all street lights in Wrexham were going to be replaced with LED ones to save on running costs? (Wrexham to roll out energy-efficient street lights – North Wales Weekly News) Has this been done anywhere yet? New posts were put up in Rhosymedre a long time ago but I don’t think anything has been done with them.
@Rob 9445 wrote:
Cut spend on economic development by a half in 2015/16[/quote]If overall this brings in more money then it should be kept but I’d be interested to see how many new businesses/jobs have been attracted to Wrexham against all those that have left over the last few years. The Industrial Estate and Technology Park are becoming semi derelict yet the council is still pushing on with the next phase of the Technology Park?
@Rob 9445 wrote:Cutting third sector funding in half in 2015/16
What is third sector funding?
Finally, I was at a local enquiry a few months ago and there were 6 or 7 council staff there just watching, a great way to spend taxpayers money.
Needless speedbumps everywhere cost money & yet more money when they remove them again as on Montgomery Road.
I seem to remember that planning laws were going to be relaxed anyway.
Scaffolding costs a fortune but is left up for weeks when finished with.I realise the below was not asking me exactly and responding to the bulletpoint examples but couple of answers/thoughts:
@pete 9831 wrote:
Isn’t the fee for submitting an planning application supposed to cover the cost of it?[/quote]
It could be department sizes eg. say staff of 8 becomes 6.
Quote:Does Waterworld not make a profit for the council? The gym membership isn’t particularly cheap and the swimming pool is always packed when I’ve been.Not sure, but it would not surprise me if this was they type of thing ‘spun out’ – there is a sort of report here on the type of thing Council To Create Trading Company? | Wrexham.com but as the meeting was secret it wasnt possible to report fully. That is more service provision, but could allow third party services say in Waterworld – or – spin the whole thing out and let a separate company take over the running of it. Either reducing cost base (maintenance, staff etc) or even making it £ positive by selling it off.
Just to be clear that is *not* a proposal for waterworld, but the type of thing that appears to be proposed around the country.
…
Quote:What is third sector funding?Shameless C+P from Wikipedia “The Cabinet Office of the British government until 2010 had an Office of the Third Sector that defined the “third sector” as “the place between State and (the) private sector.”[4] The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government renamed the department the Office for Civil Society. The term third sector has now been replaced in Government usage by the term Civil Society or more usually the term Big Society, which was devised by political advisers and which featured prominently in the Conservative Party’s 2010 election campaign.” also Voluntary sector .
The Council need to publish their total revenue and spend account, and demonstrate how they can increase revenue lines, and decrease spending lines. There are tens of millions of pounds to make decisions on. The small items talked about in the press, that amount to thousands of pounds, or hundreds of thousands of pounds spend, will not resolve the issue. Basic operating costs of the Council seem to be around £27m … every other organisation has made a substantial saving in this area … while we rightly debate this in public, when will we get a straight forward financial proposal from the Council?
@locallad 9821 wrote:
This council could save money by cutting the number of Councilors,& making wards bigger.After all they are Employed by the Council.Stop the use of consultants,after all the big earners in the council should be able to identify areas were money is to be saved.Stop paying the Police for PCSOs.If the police want that many,let them pay for them.
To raise money.Stop the use of Free Public Toilets.if you use them pay for them.Charge for parking on High St.If the council stop contributing towards the cost of PCSOs, there wouldn’t be as many of them. Take a look at other councils who don’t contribute and see how many they have. Is that what the public want?
‘Meat on the bones’ today Wrexham Council Cuts Detailed For First Time | Wrexham.com
The document details near £10,000,000 of savings, including:
Closure of 103 playgrounds or transfer to community councils saving £87,000
Review of community centres – closure or transfer to community councils to save £129,000
Library Review – closure of 3 libraries.
5% reduction to the highways maintenance saving £107,000
Cessation of subsidised bus services saving £455,000
Reduce the frequency of the street cleansing service.
Cease school crossing patrols or transfer to community councils saving £77,000
Homelessness – planned reduction in the use of temporary accommodation including B&B’s saving £100,000
Review and Retender Domiciliary Care – review all packages , with projected savings of £1 million over three years.
Review / reprovide outreach for mental health clients saving £50,000
14 – 19 Course Review with Yale – reduction in the number of courses offered.
Special Needs packages concluding.
School Music and Library Services mentioned, no detail of changes.
Schools to now fund their own redundancy costs.
No further Twinning visits will be made, to save £9000.
Introduce a 2.5% fee for payments by credit cards for payments to the Council.
The Connect magazine is being moved to ‘web only’ or reduced in scale.
Call answering could change to more automated systems.
The report also states that ‘sickness’ will be cut, there is no detail on how this will occur but we assume there has been no Council medical breakthroughs they have kept quiet.
For those who wish to read the full list you can find it in the PDF https://www.wrexham.com/goto/https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/MinutesData/ExBoard/Reports/hf5213.pdfMoneyWeek's The End of Britain – YouTube
A very good advert from ‘Money Week’ which examines the debt crisis in the UK.
The present suggested cuts have been in the pipeline for a long time, how then have the Connect Magazine (45,0000 per year ) and Twinning (9,000 ) survived until now? Prudence over the last two years would have provided a pot of £108,000. Remember anything taken on by your Community Council will be paid for by an increase in the amount of money they charge you on your rating bill. The County Council maybe passing the buck but we the Council Tax Payer will still be picking up the tab !
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