Wrexham’s ‘Difficult Decision’ Consultation Goes Live – Have Your Say!

More Council cuts and revenue raisers are being consulted on – and you are being asked for your views & ideas as well via online and offline survey forms.

To find the official Wrexham Council online consultation form please click here! The Council’s explanatory PDF can be found here.

Members of the public are being encouraged to make their views count as the Council tries to get to grips with finding £45 million savings over three years. Whilst the exact figure the Council needs to find is in the region of £15.5 million, this cannot be confirmed until the Welsh Government announces our final funding settlement, probably in December.

Last week we reported on the overview of some of the proposals including Council Tax rises, service and job cuts (despite some reports there are no specific numbers mentioned), and even proposals to open a pet cremation service.

Following on from approval from Wrexham Council’s Executive Board yesterday, the public consultation has now gone live and residents across the County Borough are being urged to have their say on the proposed savings and cuts to services that have been put forward in this year’s consultation document.

Wrexham Council are also open to suggestions from the public on ways to save that they have not considered, with the promise of feeding back after the consultation on how the Council dealt with and considered your ideas following their mantra of ‘you said we did’.

The current plot of how Council spending is split is illustrated below:

The consultation begins by stating that there are four main ways in which the council are trying to save money: Restructuring and reducing senior management, restructuring of the departments, reducing what is spent on external consultants and generating income and recovering costs. Each section of the council consultation will relate to these topics in some way shape or form.

Throughout the consultation participants are asked if they strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, strongly disagree with the statements put forward, with the opportunity to leave comments on the proposals later on in the forms – which are available online or on paper.

The consultation begins with the proposed cuts to Adult Health and Social Care, which features a proposed introduction of a fee for items under £20 for people who need physical and sensory equipment.

Other proposals put forward for this department include a review of telecare services (savings of £50,000) and the day and work opportunities service (savings of around £50,000) and looking generating income from the Welfare Advice Units (income of £50,000).

Proposals cuts to services in relation to Child’s Prevention and Care are put forward, with an introduction to the section reading: “The future challenge is to meet the increasing demand for services in a time of lower budgets.”

A review of the social work cycle is one of the first proposals put forward, with a suggestion that a review into the process is looked into – which could generate savings of £100,000 over a two year period.

Also put forward is a review of the Family Run Service with proposals to move more of the resources online (savings of £30,000 over three year period) and using vacant council properties for children and young people in the care system (featured above).

There are a few questions in this section, and perhaps the overall consultation, that could benefit from more information. For example it is proposed that Tapley Avenue Respite Care, a centre which offers short breaks for children and young people with learning difficulties and chronic illness, is looked at in the way the service is delivered. Over two years it is estimated that it could make savings of £100,000 – however details of ‘looking at the ways the service works’ and how else it could be delivered are not provided.

Corporate and Customer Services are also under review, with proposals to deliver all customer telephone contact points from the Contact Wrexham office on Lord Street (savings of 70,000), the shut down of administrative bases over Christmas (savings of £5,000 – £10,000 a year) and increase of the cost to get married at the Guildhall (generate income of £39,000 and make savings of £4,000 a year).

Changes to the ways Wrexham Council deliver staff training (savings of £80,000) and scrapping the production of Connect Magazine (savings of £15,000) are also put forward as proposed savings.

Cross Cutting Proposals and how Wrexham Council can make savings across all areas of the Council’s business are next on the consultation – with statements on how the authority can change the way they handle customer debt (savings of £50,000).

A further shift to Wrexham Council becoming more ‘digital’ features quite prominently in this section – including an increase to the amount of information, advice and services available online. It is also proposed that the Council only advertise their job vacancies online to reduce the large spend on placing job adverts elsewhere (for example the Wrexham Leader, Daily Post as we have covered at length – with further FOI information due soon.)

The Community Wellbeing and Development section of the consultation features proposed changes to services to increase income, such as charging members of the public to use wireless printing in libraries to print from their own devices (income generation of around £3,000 a year).

Other suggestions including using library rooms and facilities as pop up offices (income generation of around £3,000 a year) and a review of the current planning process (pictured above).

Housing, Public Protection and Environment sees proposals such as creating a woodland burial site and a review of the current charges of services such as memorial plaques and the book of remembrance at the Crematorium (income generation of around £10,000 a year).

Other proposals put forward include opening a pet crematorium (detailed above), reducing the Council’s stray dog service from 24 hours to only operating during the day (savings of £12,000), charging blue badge holders to park in Council owned car parks (income generation of £40,000), a review of waste services, including vehicles, staff and services provided (savings of £100,000); an introduction of charges to replace lost bus passes (income generation of £1,500) a review of the ways in which school transport is delivered, expanding the Council’s ‘Houseproud Scheme’ (income of £10,000) and increasing local allotment fees.

A review of fees for various licenses has also been put forward (pictured above) which could in theory generate income of around £27,000. Changes to the rights of way and parking waiver charges, an increase of fees to collect ‘bulky’ waste items from homes and introducing a charge to services provided to local businesses, have all been put forward as potential income streams for the Council.

Working with other local authorities on issues such as trading standards and environmental health are also thought to create savings of £250,000.

One of the more controversial topics put forward are changes to the HRA (Housing Revenue Account) which was questioned by Councillors at Tuesday’s Executive Board, who queried why the wider population Wrexham have a say on  the 11,000+ tenants who are included in the HRA.

Proposals which would see changes to sheltered housing for elderly and vulnerable people have also been put forward, with a suggested reduction in the number of face to face services provided by a warden (savings of £50,000).

Employing external companies to perform some inspections of council owned properties (savings of £163,000), moving the housing helpline from Ruthin Road to Contact Wrexham on Lord Street (savings of around £84,000), and reducing the number of estate offices from six to four (savings of £150,000) have also been proposed.

Lifelong Learning features proposals to ‘reshape’ Education Enrichment and Intervention Services, such as counselling, youth justice service and play services etc to make savings of £500,000

Also put forward are proposals to introduce a fee to cover chaperone licences (pictured above), further work with Wrexham training provider ITEC to generate additional income of £50,000, reduce nursery provision for four year olds to two hours a day – a total reduction of 2.5 hours a week and a review of the schools funding formula to help hit school’s saving target of £250,000.

The potential increase of Council Tax is one that has so far been met with a negative response – with proposals to increase the fee by a maximum 5% next year. A 5% rise would mean an additional 96p per week (or £49.82) per year for a Band D property.

Last year Council Tax in Wrexham was raised by 3%, however this year’s consultation states: “Given the ongoing cuts in funding from Welsh Government, we would like to ask you once again how you would feel about a rise in Council Tax of a maximum of 5%?

“The additional income over the original planned 3% increase would be £836,000.”

The end of the consultation gives YOU the chance to put forward any additional comments and proposals that you think would help make savings. If you disagree with anything put forward or have any money saving ideas of your own, this is your chance to put those forward.

When Wrexham.com published our article on Council Cuts last week, there was a strong response on our Facebook page from readers who had their own suggestions.

In Tuesday’s Executive Board meeting suggestions of charging councillors to park and a reduction of Executive Board members were even put forward by some councillors, however are not included in this document as Councillors were told to submit via this process rather than have this rewritten.

As well as this consultation, service users, families and carers who will be directly affected are also being asked separately for their views.

A short whizzbang video, along with a new dog mascot have been unveiled, all with the aim to make the whole package more engaging.

To take part and to find the official Wrexham Council online consultation form please click here!

As well as the online form the Council say: “There are a number of ways you can tell us what you think of our proposals:

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

The closing date for responses to this consultation is Tuesday 27th October 2015.