Difficult Decisions consultation launches – Your chance to tell Wrexham Council how YOU would save £13 million

Do you have any ideas on how Wrexham Council have save £13 million over the next two years? Now is your chance as the consultation has gone live!

A document outlining Wrexham Council’s proposals can be found here. You can fill in the online consultation here and you have until November 30th to do so!

Over the next five weeks residents across the county borough will have the opportunity to let Wrexham Council know how they feel about a series of proposed budget cuts put forward in the Difficult Decisions consultation.

Since 2008 Wrexham Council have made £52 million of cuts, however over the next two years it is looking to make further savings of £13 million.

Wrexham Council’s previous Difficult Decisions consultations tend to get anything between a few hundred to just under 2000. Last year saw 1,043 people take part in the process, which was down on the 1700 residents who took part in the 2016/17 consultation. At the time it was noted that less controversial proposals may have resulted in less participants.

An introduction to this year’s consultation, states: “We want to be able to deliver good services to you, and we’re always looking for ways to get better at what we’re doing. We are working hard to become a more modern organisation and to make sure that we have the right staff and services in place to meet the needs of local people.

“We are trying to make savings which don’t affect the public in a bad way, but as we have less and less money to spend every year, it’s getting harder. We are also given new responsibilities by Welsh Government every year, which all cost money and time (e.g. changes in Social Services).

“Over the last few years lots of you have told us your thoughts about our proposals. Your opinions and ideas have helped us to decide on the changes we are making.

“This year, there are some ideas which we are telling you about, which we don’t think will have any effect on you; and so we’re not asking for your thoughts about these. We’re telling you because we want to give you as much information as we can about all of the different things we’re doing to save money and get better at what we do.

“There are some ideas we would like your opinion about; and we would also like to know if you have any ideas which we haven’t thought of.”

The consultation takes a similar format to the ones over the previous years and can be carried out via paper copy or the YourvoiceWrexham website.

During the consultation participants will have the chance to ‘Strongly agree, strongly disagree, neither agree or disagree, disagree and strongly disagree’ on 13 different council areas. There is also the chance to comment on each of the proposals at the bottom of the page.

For those wanting to skip ahead and comment on a few things will be unable to, with each question requiring a response – so those wishing to just take part in the Council Tax section, will have to wait until the end when filling in the online version that we estimate could take a minimum of 15 minutes to do as a basic entry.

A few examples of the proposed cuts put forward in the consultation are:

– Withdrawing Wrexham Council’s funding for school music services: It is estimated this could generate savings of approximately £300,000 in 2019/20.
– Introduction of a £30 yearly charge for the collection of additional green waste bins: It is estimated this could generate additional income of approximately £15,000 in 2018/19
– Revoke free parking for blue badge holders in council car parks: It is estimated this could generate additional income of approximately £25,000 in 2018/19
– Review of library services
– Scrapping PCSO funding: It is estimated this could generate savings of approximately £140,000 in 2018/19 and a further £140,000 in 2019/20.

During yesterday’s Executive Board meeting it was noted that ‘nothing is off the table’ in terms of ideas for the council to consider, so any of your own suggestions can be added at the end of the consultation.

Social media comments on Facebook and Twitter do not count as giving a formal response – so if there is something (or several things) in the consultation that you strongly agree or disagree with, make sure you let Wrexham Council know your opinions.

There are a number of ways you can let Wrexham Council know what you think of the proposals:

– Please complete the survey – either online or in paper version to say what extent you agree with the proposals Wrexham Council are making.
– There will be more detailed consultations conducted with service users for some of these proposals – which will also contribute to the decision making process.
– You could also write to ‘Tell Us What You Think’. 3rd Floor Annex. The Guildhall. Wrexham. LL11 1AY
– Or email [email protected] (please mark your correspondence ‘Difficult Decisions’)

The responses submitted will help the decision making process for the new budget in January / February 2018.

A document outlining Wrexham Council’s proposals can be found here. You can fill in the online consultation here and you have until November 30th to do so!