The City Council is consulting on budget proposals for the year ahead. All councils are facing big grant cuts to tackle the huge deficit left by the last Labour Government. The city council will be redesigning many of its services and increasing some charges but the majority of spending reductions are in areas such as management, administration, supplies and services, transport and accommodation.
Work is continuing to install metal fencing around the fronts of the mid-rise flats in the Leazes area of Newburn ward. Fortunately YHN have been able to extend their original plans and include more residences in the programme thanks to some match funding provided by the Newburn Ward Committee.
A Lib Dem County Councillor has raised questions about the future of Youth Work in the County. Cllr Wright is concerned that the massive reductions in Youth Work will see a loss of capacity to help the County's young people.
Local residents have been shortchanged again by Wiltshire Conservatives, as the Council receives an enormous fine for failing to invest in measures to reduce CO2 emissions. The council have seen Wiltshire emissions grow by more than 3%, whilst the rest of the South West has seen an average reduction of over 2%, giving Wiltshire Council one of the worst records in the country.
One of my early decisions as mayor was to cut the cost of the Council magazine 'Borough News,' halving the number of editions to 6 a year and making delivery cheaper and wider-reaching across the whole borough. This produced a major saving for the taxpayer, while improving the design, content and reach of the magazine in order to make it more useful for local residents. I hear a range of views about Borough News from residents, some from people who like to receive it, others who feel it is a waste of money. Personally, while I can see its purpose and have worked to make it more useful and cost effective, in the current climate resources must be directed to the front line to protect services while keeping tax down. We are therefore now going further and stopping the magazine altogether in order to communicate with residents in more cost effective ways.
Despite some great performances from schools, the education system in Wiltshire continues to cheat the poorest in society.