You Had Your Say in Budget Consultation – But Have Wrexham Council Listened?

Over 1000 residents took part in the recent ‘Difficult Decisions’ budget consultation – but have Wrexham Council listened to what you had to say?

During September and October 2016 the local authority asked the public of Wrexham to take part in the ‘Difficult Decisions’ consultation – a document which outlined potential ways to make savings of £5 million during the 2017/18 financial year.

The consultation process involved both a paper and digital survey, two consultation market stalls and four Question and Answer sessions on social media.

In total 1,043 people took part in the process, with the consultation’s findings used to inform the budget presented to the Executive Board in December 2016.

Ahead of next week’s Executive Board meeting, an overview of the responses submitted to Wrexham Council during last year’s consultation period has been released.

The number of participants is down on the 2016/17 consultation, which saw over 1700 residents across the county borough have their say. However this is thought to be down to the ‘less controversial’ proposals put forward in last year’s consultation.

The document, which is now available on the Wrexham Council website, provides information about the progress of each proposal, and what has happened as a result of the consultation process.

One section which drew a particularly negative response was the proposed closure of two council run day centres for the elderly in a bid to save around £47,000.

The average score for the proposals was 0.16, with many people feeling that the services ‘are important and losing them could lead to older people feeling lonely and isolated’. Other comments focused on the negative impact the closures would have on the service users and that outsourcing such facilities would be ‘expensive and lead to poorer services’.

Plans to close the day centre facilities at Caia Park and Plas Yn Rhos pressed ahead, with the majority of Executive Board members voting in favour of their closure in December 2016.

However there was also public backing for several ideas put forward – including proposals help three projects which provide work opportunities for people with disabilities, sensory impairment and mental health needs, become operational as social enterprises.

It is thought that in the long-term Wrexham Council could save £334,000 while allowing the new social enterprises to run as businesses and put the profits back into their operation.

During the consultation participants also had the chance to put forward their own views to generate income or save money – with such suggestions including combining appropriate departments, stopping the spend on external consultants and scrapping the mayor.

The findings of the report will be debated by Wrexham Council’s Executive Board on Monday 14th February. For those who cannot attend the meeting it will be webcast live on the Wrexham Council website from 10am

You can view the ‘You Said. We Did. Difficult Decisions’ consultation document here.