Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Your Lib Dem team for Cheadle West & Gatley Learn more
by Lib Dem team on 15 September, 2012
Having cut £26 million from Council spending over the last two years, Stockport has to cut another £24 million over the next two, and it doesn’t get any easier – especially as Stockport was a pretty efficient and low-spending council at the start.
The initial proposals are now open for consultation, with the final budget decision being made by councillors next March.
As far as possible, the ruling Lib Dem group are seeking to save money by redesigning services and finding inefficiencies to cut out. But it seems certain some services will be affected – it isn’t possible to cut out that amount of money otherwise. Part of the savings proposals are about what changes and how it’s done.
We want your views on next year’s Council budget – you can see the proposals and comment on them here.
5 Comments
Only produce the Civic Review twice a year – very little changes so this would be adequate. Incidentally I proposed this years ago but it was summarily dismissed by the Libdem leader Dave Goddard. When there were six issues per year it cost around £150k to produce – so extrapolate this over ten years, and I reckon you could have saved over a million. So to say you are a low-spending council is just not true – this magazine was, and maybe to a lesser extent now, a vehicle for Libdem propaganda (eg one headline was ‘What a great place to live’.
Hi Bruce,
When we talk about saving £24 million, that’s the amount we need to reduce our annual spending by. Cutting two further issues of the review would indeed save around £60,000 a year – or about 0.25% of the savings we need to find.
However, we also need to consider that for many people – especially in the poorer parts of the Borough – the Review is the only paper they get through their door and it contains important information to help people access Council services, participate in consultations etc. If savings result in the people who need them most not taking up Council services, it may be a false economy.
In the long term, there may well be alternatives, especially as the number of people with Internet access gets nearer to 100%, but we’re not there yet.
How about cutting councilor’s expenses? It may not make a big dent in the savings that have to be made, but it would be a contribution. Mick Jones, who used to be on the council, proposed it, and was not accepted- can’t understand why!
In recent years, councillors allowances have been frozen – which I think is right: if we’re asking employees to take a pay freeze, the same should apply for councillors.
The Independent Remuneration Panel have been looking at what councillors allowances in Stockport should be and we’re expecting their report soon.
Make civic review available online and in libraries and cut the printing totally otherwise. Most people I know just stick it in the bin! Just because we live in poor areas, does not mean we do not read, what a sweeping statement! All this can be made available in a library or other council place. Make councillors expenses subject to means testing, like most of us are, and make them taxable. If we must print a civic review then make it totally black and white and on poor quality paper, thus saving money. Do not make the cuts on the shop floor, eg we need street cleaning, bins emptied, support workers for the learning disabled and elderly. Make the cuts at the top, one manager is probably equal to 3 street cleaners! Bring in a rota system which would mean hire vehicles could be used round the clock therefore meaning less hire charges. Stop council vehicles being kept running when not moving, sick of seeing workers sat in vans on phones with engines going to keep warm. Yes sits cold, but get out and do some work to warm you up, its what you are paid for. Communicate more by checking online before sending out letters and phone calls from several people. I got at least 3 letters about benefits for my dad all saying much the same thing, communicate with each other in departments. Protect our vulnerable people, do not decrease respite nights, or you will end up looking after people 24/7 in care and paying the majority, just because you did not support the carers enough, and they could not cope, I speak from experience here! Cut the heating in offices, have been in some council offices and they are baking hot, there is simply no need to have them so hot. Sell some of the property SMBC and lies empty or rent it out. Clamp right down on corporate charge cards! Cancel all glitzy ceremonies, away days in hotels, meals for councillors, we have to buy our own lunch why not them? Cut senior managements pay, they will probably not miss it as will pay less tax. It is wrong that some of these CEOs earn more than the PM!NO more golden handshakes when top brass are let go – if they are being let go it is most likely because they have done something wrong and it is being hushed up, this has gone on for years. Stop employing consultants to work out how to save money, when they cost more than they save, surely there are enough people with brains at the top to work this out? Stop paying for agency staff, they are most costly. Bring in Bradford Factor to reduce sickness, it works. Charge for paying union fees etc thru wages. NO first class travel, no lunch payments, reduce milage to minimum. Use video conferencing, there is no need to travel in this day and age. Stop all these stupid questionnaires about race etc. Surely by now all this is known, we dont need to keep filling these in and wasting paper and costs. HOw about asking your staff for sensible ways to save money????