Council Cuts
 

East Lancs' crippling budget cuts - while rich escape (From Lancashire Telegraph)

So Hyndburn faces 18% cuts next year alone. Not just massive, but more massive than other, more affluent Councils face.

How is that fair?

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Eighteen percent, Hmmm. Assuming that you had the responsibility, where would you begin to cut eighteen percent from the budget of HBC? What jobs and services would you axe or cut back on?

The current budget is somewhere in the region of £16 Million with £4 million in reserves and a net pensions deficit of £47 million and a wages bill of £13 million.

It is interesting to note that the Managing Director of HBC is paid a total of £147,672 pa (which includes employer pension contributions of £27,608.) and his deputy is paid £119,053 (which includes employer pension contributions of £21,896 ).

I wonder if they will be taking an 18% cut, what do you think?

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well its not realy a shocker seen as cameron himself stated that he hated the north and couldnt understand why anyone lived there.Yet people in the north still voted for him so they must have thought cameron wasnt refering to them or somthing .Credit where credit is due though cameron said he hated teh north and now hes backing it up

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From my knowledge and dealings with them, they are both worth every penny. Councillor Moss has mentioned on this site the great (and thankless!) job the Managing Director does in keeping all the different factions together with such difficult political leadership.

What worries me is the cost of the large number of administrative jobs created in recent years, to ensure the right ticks are being put in the right boxes. How much was wasted courting the government inspectors who gave the ludicrous "Excellent" status? All spin, no substance.

That's where the savings are!

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But do ya think thats were the savings will be? i sure as hell doubt it.:eek:

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Is shooting yourself in the foot a hobby or an obsession.:confused:

He either does a good job or he does like every other politician and employs a laccy who in turn employs another laccy and so down the line we go.:eek:

Good fun innit.:D:D

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Its better than bear baiting Beni:D

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Que?

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This happens the world over. The people of Hyndburn elected a labour MP and we have a conservative government. Where do you think the swingeing cuts are going to fall.

I thought we had ended up with a condemned coalition?

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we did and cameron got a new tea lady.I say lady becuse there has yet to be any evidence that clegg has any balls

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I'm on a committee known as Overview and Scrutiny: Resources which looks at how the council spends its money and in six months I am appalled and the vast swathes of waste I see everywhere in the name of ticking the right boxes.

There is a very detailed list of the spending from each department, something which is about the size of five phone books and used to get sent out to councillors as a matter of course in years gone by. I have requested a copy, I feel fairly confident I could whittle out 18%.

Whether anyone listens at Britcliffe HQ is another matter, it'll all probably be due to 13 years of Labour rule when the chips are down.

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Well now you've got it saves me keep telling you

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They can go on about 13 years of Labour rule as much as they want, but they are wasting their breath.

There's still 18% savings to be found.

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Because of the last 13 years of mismanagement;)

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Exactly

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just shows how biased n sad yer both are, blaming government fer local council waste, just remind us, How long as P.B. been leader locally?:rolleyes: the government made enough cock ups of there own but sad gits blame em fer yer own.:rolleyes:

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Let's leave the political squabbling to the politicians. Who is responsible is, frankly, irrelevant to the exercise ahead.

Let's look at the figures. This years Revenue Budget is 15.6 million pounds, made up of 10.1 million government grants and 5.5 million raised locally from the Council Tax.

Is the 18% reduction on the total spend? That means finding savings of 2.8million.

Or is it 18% reduction on the grant, which means finding savings of 1.8 million?

Either way, its difficult to see how this can be achieved without virtually dismantling the Council as it stands at present. Some very, very painful decisions will have to be made, and I can only wish members well in trying to make them.

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Certain things will have to be savaged and it pains me to say it but the first logical casualty would be Area Councils. They serve a function but are by no means essential to the borough and could be easily subsumed by committees within each ward.

To prevent other casualties I would go down the route of a thousand cuts, whittling out all the piddling crap that we spend money on but which serves no practical purpose in the long-run. Awards for this and that, meaningless ceremonies that are forgotten as soon as they're over.

I'll say it again, we aren't here to crow about how lovely we are, we are a council here to serve the public.

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When PB took over there was a £2 million black hole in Hyndburns finances, there ain't now;)

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No, it's nearer to £12m.

With fixed-rate borrowing available to the council around 3.78% APR cheaper than variable why are we not making the most of it and getting rid of our debts faster? We can have as much debt as this lot like and still blame it on the Labour government. It's a tired argument and something which I have rapidly found to be an outright lie. Local councils have a greater degree of autonomy with finances than certain Leaders would have us believe.

It doesn't make a shred of difference who is in power in Westminster, if our local books don't balance well it is almost entirely down to the current controlling group.

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I really hope you had a smile on your face and were crossing your fingers when you wrote that ;)

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There's not a lot to smile about really. Doling out blame to previous governments doesn't help anyone's situation, saving money instead of spending thousands here and there will.

The council wastes untold thousands on meaningless crap and with some serious tightening up you could probably find £2.8m without hurting frontline services too badly.

Sorry to harp on about the Leader Vainglorious once again but this is a man who keeps harping on about his 10 years in power and has not taken the opportunity to whittle out wasteful spending. I've been playing at this for six months and can spot the flaws!

You'll defend him to the hilt but the millions that have slipped through the fingers of that man don't bear thinking about and it had absolutely nothing to do with any Labour government.

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Well if everything goes as planned Hyndburn really will be the best run authority in Britain BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR;)

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well ya could put Dick Turpin as leader n it would certainly be run better n now.:rolleyes:

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The gospel according to Saint Ken of Rishton ;)

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Not at all, more a matter of keeping yer ear to the ground n listening to people ya know ya can trust.;)

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:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38:

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My understanding is that it will be 18% reduction on the grant, not on the total spend.

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as yer good self is one of the few i trust, i find it very odd yer laughing at yerself.:D

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So a reduction in spending of 1.8 million pounds. I don't envy the politicians' decision making over the next couple of months. :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

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What percentage of the local "Council" tax goes to HBC and what percentage goes to LCC , I'm thinking 75% + goes to Preston so why do we never hear from those elected folks, they should be the ones explaning why there are no police on the beat and other stuff , seems to me the Hyndburn(Greater Accrington) members of LCC are getting a free ride on Accy web and the local Councillors get all the crap :confused: :confused:

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The Band "A" Council Tax in 2010/11 is £1,032.49.

Hyndburn gets £153.68 (14.9%)
Lancashire County Council gets £738.87 (71.6%)
Lancashire Police Authority gets £97.51 (9.4%)
Lancashire Fire Authority gets £42.43 (4.1%)

So the local Council gets about one seventh of the overall Council Tax, but is faced with 100% of the hassle in trying to collect it.

The County in its various forms takes the other six sevenths of the Council Tax, and sits back laughing at the efforts of the poor local Council in trying to collect it.

If I submitted that arrangement in a novel to a publisher, it would be rejected for being too ridiculous. But that is local government 2010 style!

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Plus County Council have increased their share of the taxes by more than Hyndburn Council over the last 10 years, yet Hyndburn Councillors will get all the blame for higher council tax.

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One of the better reasons for getting rid of LCC. I've spent years on the doorstep trying to justify spending that we as a local authority have no control over.

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Was thinking more in the line of the shah of Rishton:D

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For once I totally agree with you on this one Bernard, county take approx 83p in every pound raised in Hyndburn, I would rather see 100% spent in Hyndburn not waiting in a queue to see what we get:(

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ah but i dont actually know him.

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That's a new one on me .

Martin Dowd , parish priest of St Charles , Rishton , has never heard of him .

Any connection to St Jude , patron of hopeless cases ? ;)

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His long lost brother:D

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It looks as though the savings required will be 8.9% on spending, or about 1.4 million pounds.

Time to get whittling, although to save that sort of money, some very hard decisions will have to be made. Good luck!

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It's a frightening figure. Where can a Council the size of Hyndburn find those sorts of savings. It's bound to impact on frontline services.

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This made me laugh - you are part of the Council, you should be telling us how those savings can be made

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I honestly don't know how you would make those sort of cuts. Well not without jobs going.And if that happens it's bound to effect services. Where not just talking Hyndburn Council, but also Lancashire County Council.

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I hear that some councils are turning off street lighting for a few hours during the night.
I know that street lighting is light sensor controlled so the cost of implementing a timer system may reduce or eliminate any potential savings.

I have doubts whether some areas would find it desirable due the potential for a crime increase, but it would be nice to see a starry sky again.

PS - I was only a child so was in bed during the wartime 'blackouts'. Maybe older members can recall their experience of it.

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I don't mean to appear off or to be picking on you as an individual but you could be part of the controlling group in May setting the budget. If you don't know how HBC can make those cuts what hope is there for Hyndburn?

Like I said that comment is nothing personal towards you, I am just trying to point out what I have said before about many (if not most) Councillors having little idea on how to run a business. I know the Council is not what you might call a normal business but it has many of the same issues.

It has always appeared odd that we vote in normal people to decide how to run the place when what we need is experts in managing business and people and money.

I would say the same about most councillors of all colours before anyone says I have a political bias.

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"Front Line Services" I have never understood this term that one hears bandied about so glibly and meaninglessly. Can anyone define for me precisely which services offered by HBC are designated by this dreadful misuse of the language?

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16 million to get my bin emptied, bargain lol

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It is also interesting to note that the Prime Minister is paid £142,000. £147k for refereeing a bunch of immature egomaniacs is a bit much don't you think?

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Let's take the example the emptying of your bin. The people who empty it can't do it alone. They need someone to drive them to your house in a lorry which needs to be looked after in a garage that needs to be maintained. They have to be told which house to go to by a supervisor who needs to be managed by a director who needs to be guided by a councillor who needs to decide how often your bin will be emptied.

Meanwhile, someone has to check that it is the right type of rubbish in the right colour bin. Someone has to keep a record of how much it is all costing. Someone has to ensure that nothing illegal is being done in emptying your bin. Someone has to fill in the forms to say that your bin has been emptied, into the right colour box at the right price and in full accordance with the law. Someone has to fill in more forms which compare how your bin has been emptied compared to bins in a council of similar size and standing, and someone has to fill in a form to show that in empying your bin, the Council has acted in accordance with its corporate strategy. Finally, someone has to decide whether the emptying of your bin, along with the other services that the council provides makes the council weak, poor, average, good or, in Hyndburn's case, excellent.

And of course all these people need to be told how to do it by a supervisor who needs to be managed by a director who needs to be guided by a councillor who wants to take the glory.

The front line service is the actual emptying of the bin.

You got it?

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I reckon the army of hand gritters the council employs will be first to be cut :rolleyes:

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No, I am a bit simple, please could you explain again,

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Let's take the example of emptying your.....oh never mind!

Suffice to say that in finding cuts in spending, I'm not sure that the front line is the first place to look!

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I am not sure what County do with the biggest % of our Council Tax. Maybe all the cuts should come from LCC and leave HBC alone

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Oh, I see. It's the bit that we, the public, see, as opposed to the legions of seat warming paper shufflers, chronic sick leave takers and professional training course attendees who appear to infest Scaitcliffe Towers. Well, why can't they say that rather than indulging in this ridiculous mid atlantic newspeak? Anyway, Sack the bluddy lot of em. Problem solved!

And another thing... Why do we need so many councillors? Who, if past election turnout statistics are to be believed, only actually represent about thirty percent of the electorate.

Good Grief. at this rate we will have saved the entire budget by midnight. Easy peasy, and all without claiming an allowance!

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The good thing, though, is that "Excellent" Councils receive favourable treatment from government in grant distribution, because they have proved that they are trustworthy in not wasting public money.

Hyndburn went to great lengths (and expense - rooms at the Dunkenhalgh don't come cheap) to satisfy the Audit Commission as to their capabilities, and the Audit Commission responded to the Councils amorous advances by awarding an "Excellent" tag.

So money well spent and pay back time from HM Government? Well not exactly. The Council has received exactly the same grant as if they had been called "weak" or "poor" by the Audit Commission. The worst possible settlement of any council in England.

....errrr and its the same Audit Commission that has now been abolished, leaving its members only warm memories of their luxury nights at the Dunk.

Back to the drawing board, I think. :(

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that really brasses me off, whilst i accept the need fer cuts, cutting the most deprived areas the most is unacceptable.:(

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I have to come in as defence for Hyndburn Council here and point out that there are remarkably few paper shufflers at Scaitcliffe House. In terms of manpower, from what I can see there really isn't an awful lot of room for manouevre in terms of slashing manpower.

What can be cut drastically is the number of small amounts which are frittered away on bits of nothing. It goes on all the time and to be honest it would count for a very large amount of what we're being told to save.

£1,000 here, £2,000 there....there are innumerable awards ceremonies and buffet lunches to cut for a start. Tatty bye, I can make my own butties and give myself a pat on the back without it costing thousands of pounds of public money. In terms of personal luxuries, being a councillor isn't the cushy life some people might think but those perks don't come with other jobs so I don't see any reason why we should have them.

As far as too many councillors are concerned, please don't reduce the number any more or I'm out. Looking after 3,300 homes is damned hard work and I don't fancy widening the radius of the houses I have to keep informed of events. All three of us are responsible for all 3,300 homes in Rishton and I'd find it much harder to communicate with every resident without the support of Cllr Grayson. We've both been out seeing residents this evening and posting Christmas cards with helpline numbers on plus have over a dozen other people still to see before weekend. It isn't easy but it is enjoyable, although piling more work on would push me towards standing down. I simply don't have the time, neither would many people who work so you end up left with the option of the retired or the unemployed and close the door to those who want to make a difference but can't.

The phone never stops ringing and my email inbox is always full. I'll take the fact that I am getting more and more calls as a sign that people feel they can come to me with a reasonable chance of getting a decent response but I've got other work to do as well.

At the moment you have 35 people representing over 80,000 residents in Hyndburn, I don't think that's over-egging the pudding too much.

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Just a point about those buffet lunches. That is actually supplying work for the caterers who are a local business. Whilst you're seeing it from one point of view i.e. cushy lunches, you could also see it as keeping small, local businesses in business.

BTW - not actually saying that they shouldn't stop buffet lunches, just pointing out that as usual there is another side.

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Still if it all goes tits up we can always go picking fruit down south as suggested by this idiot .:bingobang David Shakespeare, leader of the Conservative group on the Local Government Association (LGA), told colleagues that people from the north may “replace the Romanians in the cherry orchards”.

During an LGA Executive discussion on ways to respond to an expected rise in unemployment in less well off parts of the country, he added that it “may be a good thing” if eastern European economic migrants were replaced by those from the north. It just goes to show the tories have not changed since the last time they held power they dont give a stuff for the common man in the north or south for that matter .The only problem was the so called peoples party Labour where just as bad, me thinks we are all doomed:D

Mr Shakespeare is the leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, where he has served for 29 years, and was awarded an OBE

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A friend of mine earlier on this year went to a meeting at hyndburn borough council re their grants for the year ... hyndburn council was telling them that they had no extra money and the grants would be cut ... also at the same meeting was someone who had worked in manchester and went to similar meetings with manchester council .. and a buffet lunch was rolled out, spud pie, cheese and onion pie, variety of sandwiches and salads, desserts .. and the manchester girl was shocked .. she said that when she'd been to meetings at manchester it was accepted that they either brought their own or went to the shops for their dinner rather than catering in ... she asked the caterer how much it cost and they said they were told to cater for 40 people and at £9 per head.

If that is a sample of how much it costs how many meetings do they have a catered lunch for ... now think where that money could be used elsewhere in the borough ... plus the money that could have gone in the local shops .. as people going round to the butty shop might have called in elsewhere ..

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I'm supposing, but maybe I 'm wrong , that most of these HBC employees scoffing the free lunchs during daytime meetings are 'professionals' doing it during an unpaid working lunch (in their own time) , would have thought most of these folks are on a salary and are not paid overtime like hourly workers. Maybe its cheaper to spend the odd £9 per head than pay overtime at time and a half for someone on £50K + a year .

£50 K per annum @ 2,000 hours (50weeks @ 40 hours per week ) = £25 per hour ;)

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The buffets are primarily for councillors and it seems to me that there are too many meetings deliberately scheduled at dinner and teatime just so that free butties can be arranged.

Gayle, while you're correct that the buffets provide business for a local sandwich maker it hardly seems proper that the business in question is run by a Baxenden councillor. We've spent over £15,000 on buffets in the past five years to that business.

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err, How long has said business man been a councillor? If its who I think its not exactly been very long now has it.........

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Does the councillor in question attend the meetings?

It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "there's no such thing as a free lunch!"

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had a look at the hynburn website to see who the baxenden counilors are and i see there are only two and both are tory so we have a tory led council awarding contracts to a tory councilors buisness and semingly arranging meetings deliberatly to drum up buisness for the tory councilor.

is that the jist of it ?

whats wrong with a bag of chips after the meeting at their own expense ?

i would expect a buffet at a christening but not at work.Peopel tend to have to buy their own lunch or pack a lunch for work

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....and presumably there will have to be a lot more meetings in the coming weeks to decide where the cuts will fall. Such decisions cant be made on an empty stomach......

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the only cuts discussed will be wether or ot the sandwiches should be squares or triangles :)

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Triangles, definitely triangles ...... with the crusts cut off ! :rolleyes: On the face of it, it sounds a bit necky. Maybe a little more enquiring before assumption takes over & the peasant horde with flaming torches & pitchforks waving descend upon town hall to carry out their orgy of destruction, tarring & feathering, then the running out of town of the perpetrators ! (Well isn't that what the contributors of "Revolution in the air" want ? You'd probably be able to enlist the assistance of those poor oppressed students too. ;))

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I believe we are talking about Terry Hurn here who has been a councillor for what a month or so. I'd love to see that 15K broken down to how much prior to his election and how much since he took up post.... I bet these figures aren't so forthcoming...

Whilst i will not stand by whilst mis-information is being bandied I do agree that they could/should provide their own food at lunch times. Its not exactly like they are working away from home and don't have access to a kitchen to make something now is it.

The problem as I see it is as Neil posted earlier, we have a lot of people who are elected yet have no actual experience in running a company teh size and budget of HBC. They are quite simply out of their depth ( and that stands for all colours of party flags ). The vast majority of workforce do not follow the " Do we really need it and if it was my cash would I spend it" mantra that they should.

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I hope the wheelchair access is up to scratch we have to provide our wonderful British Police force with a few easy targets to practice on before the real event.;)

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Well it wants to be ..... else why all the hooha about 'Elf & Safedy not to mention equal rights, diversity & equality & all the rest of the she-ite they pile upon the masses, er ......Goosed ganders or some such ! :rolleyes:

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I noticed a large notice-board parked outside the Market Hall yesterday with the slogan - HYNDBURN - ACCORDING TO EVIDENCE - A CORRUPT COUNCIL. It was there last Friday, too, so no one seems very worried about it.

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- HYNDBURN - ACCORDING TO EVIDENCE - A CORRUPT COUNCIL.


To judge by the last half dozen or so posts this seems more a statement of the blindingly obvious than an accusation.

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Sad to see that Gayle has still not managed to get her pretty head around the nature and source of public money.

The.. money.. that.. HBC.. spends.. comes.. from.. the.. taxpayer, ..Gayle.

It is not wealth that has been created by HBC. It is money that government, local and national, has taken from the rest of us. Giving a little of it back to buy services like Buffets for Council Meetings is not wealth creation. It is merely redistribution.

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I have only once eaten at a town hall event.
It was when I paid (£12 if I recall) to hear a series of 3 lectures, of which Germaine Greer was the 'headline act'.
Scones, cream and jam (along with tea or coffee) were included in the price.

I don't know who the caterer was, but I don't recommend them.
The scones were so underbaked that they stuck to the teeth like glue.
I had to make a special journey to the washroom to try to clear the gunge from my mouth (wasn't successful until I brushed them when I got home).

Maybe the organisers wanted 'no questions' at the end, so they ensured the audience had their upper and lower jaws firmly sealed:rolleyes:

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Sad to see that you are still as rude as ever

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I think that depends on who you work for. At my place lunches and such are provided sometimes depending on the meeting or activity taking place.

Last night was our Christmas party, a couple of thousand of us at a private party in London with as much food and drink as you wanted. Train down and back and overnight accommodation all paid for.
A couple of X Factor contestants were singing announced by the x factor voice chap, I still don't know who Shayne Ward is but even I knew it was Westlife when they came on stage at 9.

The company probably see it as a big thank you for its staff who go the extra mile to make it one of the best, if not the best in its field.

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....and to celebrate the profits generated by the staff working for the company. They plough back a very small proportion of those profits into the Xmas party.

In the Public Sector, there are no such profits, so by definition every pound spent on a ham sandwich in Scaitcliffe House is a pound that can't be spent emptying Acrylic Bob's bin.

:(

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And if it was just ham sandwiches that Scaitcliffe Towers were squandering money on, that would be bad enough. How much taxpayers money is wasted paying for non-jobs? How much is wasted paying for Agency Staff to cover for not-really-sick, sick leave? How much is wasted paying for jobs that overlap or are duplicated? How much is wasted on paper and printing costs and pointless self-advertising projects. I do not need to be constantly reminded at every turn that HBC is an excellent council, according to some faceless and unaccountable quango. I would rather see the evidence on the streets. I just want them to get on with the job and empty the bluddy bins! Is that asking too much?

I don't need grandiose regeneration schemes that cost millions which we haven't got nor are ever likley to have. This council, sadly, are not alone in proving that when it comes to anything more complicated than emptying the bins or keeping the streets clean they invariably make an arse of things and you end up with a situation that is worse than the one they were trying to remedy - take a walk along Broadway. Come to think of it, they are no great shakes with the bin emptying or the street cleaning either.

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I do my best not to disappoint my devoted readership. You have no idea just how hard it is finding all that spleen to ventilate. A martyr to my cause is what I am. It's me that deserves a medal, not Britcliffe.

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Instead of just ranting why not put in a FOI request and find out?

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Eh? You're having a laugh! Are you seriously saying that your company decided to reward you for all your year's hard work by shipping you down to London and then subjecting you to hours of acoustic torture of X factor crap?

You should have told them straight away to stick their little jaunt up where the sun don't shine and asked for the money instead.

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Because I suspect, no, I know, that the answers would stun even me into silence.

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Bloody hell that would be sumat Bob:D

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I could of nipped out and had a pint with you instead :D

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And that would hve been better than any X Factor Neil:D

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since 1979 when i was learning about goverments its the same old boom and bust then blame everybody else bar themselves... do you not think the time has come to have 2 goverment parties 1 for the working class and 1 for middle and upper??? i am not educated enough yet to fully understand the ramifications(spellcheck) off this... but in my 31 years off contributing to the treasury its the same old rhetoric year on year...

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[quote=MargaretR;869159]I have only once eaten at a town hall event.
It was when I paid (£12 if I recall) to hear a series of 3 lectures, of which Germaine Greer was the 'headline act'.
Scones, cream and jam (along with tea or coffee) were included in the price.

I don't know who the caterer was, but I don't recommend them.
The scones were so underbaked that they stuck to the teeth like glue.
I had to make a special journey to the washroom to try to clear the gunge from my mouth (wasn't successful until I brushed them when I got

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Now you have learnt to google
..step two - learn how to use the quote facility

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It does help don't it Margaret, mind you it only took me nearly 4 years to pick it up:D

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i have no idea what Neil does and dont need to or want too, (knowing too much about folk can change the way you answer from a respect point imho) Neil works for a large operation Neil was offered all these perks when he more than likely was offered his position... Neil is ambitious im sure, his chosen career offers more perks than most as he prob- has to deal with and make difficult decisions daily... is it neil whos wrong or the system.... i have only met two employees in 19yrs who a, have rejected a pay rise and b, given me a bonus back... my question is this?? how many people om here would have turned down the night out and given the tickets back???? and b, people who go the extra mile or 2 deserve great rewards from their bosses, as all workers are the reason why all busineses ARE SUCCESFULL.. the owner,md or chairman are the ideas people and the drivers, the people make it happen!!! p.s. hope you had a great evening :-)

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i have been on such do's in me time, i have also refused some of em, to me its horses fer courses, whatever ya fancy if its offered.

Re: Council Cuts
 

some good points imho, untill councils are given back to independent communities nothing changes, what do you believe is the solution to some off the points you raise???? i

Re: Council Cuts
 

the workers or middle management know how and what to do, as i said with the Police we all assume that anybody that works for the goverment or the Police are faceless people who dont give a damm... they would love to be more open and frank !!! but guess what when it suits the objector it gets thrown back in their face... take vince cable yday, he opened up and told a fellow human his real thoughts and what a shock that sneaky reporter grassed him and threw it back in is face.... and now people are out to oust him, you are on an hiding to nothing when you tell the truth so best to carry on lieing then you dont get in trouble???? i would rather tell the truth even though it gets you in trouble at times,sadly even with the courts !!!

Re: Council Cuts
 

army now there is an idea im sure those people would love to get out in the community and help clear the paths and roads for the elderly,,but no they rather let them fall anf hurt themselves and spend a fortune off taxpayers money mending them at the hospital . penny wise pound foolish.

Re: Council Cuts
 

In my humble opinion, Local Councils are far too big and attempt to do far too much. I would much rather see them stick to providing basic services: street cleaning, planning, etc. The danger in attempting to be all things to all people is that one inevitably ends up giving superficial service rather than truly excellent service because one has spread ones resources too thinly.

The current shape of Accrington, both physical and social, is largely the legacy of our Victorian forebears. Constructed largely by entrepreneurs, charities and industrialists with minimal interference from the borough council of the day. I do not believe that it would be a bad thing to relax many of the controls that councils have accrued over the intervening years and once more give those who have the drive, vision and money the opportunity to take a more hands-on role in reshaping the borough to make it a place that welcomes business and enterprise. Freed of the dead hand of beurocracy the town would once again flourish and the petty tyrants who infest the party political system would have to look elswhere to get their ego's stroked.

Re: Council Cuts
 

i couldnt agree more!!! i was going to suggest a similar idea but refrained from doing as i didnt want the forum to think who does he think he is???, i have met some very good people who work at the councils and these good people get supressed and their ideas are usually stolen for their bosses own agenda. one major diff - with a private council rather than a public scale one, you dont pamper to the pc brigade and you have more freedom off speech plus you can have the crack and send emails without the quangos suspending you on long term PAID LEAVE !!!, plus the people in the community realy know whats needed and in private enterprise staff suggestions are a big success story, i would be a failure without them

Re: Council Cuts
 

If I were swinging the axe, and oh, how I would relish the opportunity, Among the first swathe of the fallen would be counted Lollipop Ladies and.. persons.

I am regularly out and about delivering between 8am and 10am and the chaos these oblivious harridans cause to traffic flow is unbelievable. I really do not see the point of them, much less having two of them patrolling the same crossing (it is becoming more and more common), twice the expense for the same result - madness!

But then the bleating bleeding hearts will be sure to pipe up with the heart rending argument "but a child could be killed". What utter tosh. Children die every hour of everyday of the week and many of them manage it quite easily all by themselves with no interference from adults whatsoever; it is one of the things children do - get over it. If we must take steps to preserve the snot-nosed urchins the answer is surely not to wrap the little darlings up in cotton wool but to teach them how to cross a busy road safely on their own. What is the point of installing Zebra and Pelican crossings at enormous expense if the precious brats are not taught how to use the wretched things as intended?

Re: Council Cuts
 

do i read this as you have suffered from an industrial related illness?? ie from asbestos???