We have a Children’s Social Services Department that has been rated as inadequate by OFSTED and things are so bad that a Commissioner has been sent in to oversee the necessary improvements.
After 13 years in power, Labour’s legacy is one of debt, lower quality services, and higher taxes. We need reforms to limit debt and encourage a sharper focus on efficient service delivery.
We replaced all our inefficient halogen street lights with LED bulbs. That one change has saved taxpayers in maintenance costs but has also reduced carbon emissions by a staggering 84 per cent.
Obfuscation about realistic Children and Families Trust costings has merely put off the evil day about recognising that the Council is operationally bankrupt
One of the biggest myths propagated by public sector unions is that it’s cheaper to employ a council officer – complete with a gold-plated final salary pension and a hugely generous set of terms and conditions – than a fixed-term interim on a higher annual salary.
Secret documents have included termination arrangements with officers and reports from external solicitors into scandalous failings in the service provided to children with special needs.
One option would be to impose a lower cap, or even a freeze, on council tax rises for councils who haven’t published at least draft accounts. After all, should they be asking for yet more cash from hard-pressed households when they won’t even say how they’re spending it?
In Havering there is more interest on the doorstep in parking charges, Council Tax, and bin collections, than on immigration.
There is no denying that working practices have changed. But Town Hall bosses should not indulge in foolish experiments at the expense of Council Taxpayers.
We should require Sutton Coldfield Town Council now to be given more control over local services and functions.
The problem for the Council is not that it is taxing too little. It is not that is has been unfairly treated. The difficulty is that it is spending too much.
Those paying the most as a percentage of income are not receiving better services than those paying the least. The burden is greater. The benefits are not.
We often seem to be scared of making the case for less spending, but spending sometimes seems to have no relationship with outcomes.
Also: Welsh Government winds down flagship life sciences investment fund after writing off more than half it’s value.
He will probably get the Conservative nomination, while defeating Labour in the election next May will be more challenging. But doesn’t being a county council leader have more power anyway?