| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Northolt Leisure Centre Library consultation meeting tomorrow | |
| Posted by: | Colm Costello | |
| Date/Time: | 22/04/11 00:28:00 |
| Ben Good to hear from you. Hope you are not too depressed about the goings on at the emirates. I have tickets to see the man u game, but fear it will be a wasted trip. As far as the cuts are concerned Ben, we would have started at the top of the organisation, not the bottom as labour have although we would have taken a some of the cuts that Labour have taken, but not needed to sell the assets too. for example, take the albert dane centre. We would most likely have taken that saving, but we would have allowed the voluntary sector take the place over and deliver the services in a way that we probably couldn't. Labour not only took the revenue saving, the had to close the place for the capital receipt so they can build nice new council offices in acton, greenford and southall. The impact theatre group who used to operate out of the Hnawell community centre and provide support to some very vulnerable adutls were on the verge of receiving funding from the lottery I think, to do up one of our buildings. All they needed was a new lease from the council. Labour refused because they needed to sell the place for the capital receipt for their new offices. My colleague Cllr Phil Taylor has done a lot of work on how you can make savings in the library service without closing the smallest ones. See here http://philtaylor.org.uk/?p=4753 Ben, it's not just about where you make the cuts, it is about where you decide to spend money if you decide to spend it at all. Labour are going on a spending spree. They are spending £3.5m on IT upgrades, on top of the £3m spent last year. They are spending £8.7m on three new council offices in southall, greenford and acton £1m on shortening the desks in perceval house so they can fit more staff into the place, then I assume move them out again to the new council offices in acton, greenford and southall They have also spent £1.7m buying a site behind the cinema in Ealing broadway to help the developer there get the cinema started i believe. They can find the money when they want to Ben if it is for their priorities, but when it is for something the residents want to keep, like the libraries, then it is just not possible. They are also spending £5m on a car park in Southall. Again Cllr Phil taylor has done a lot of work on his blog on this. They haven't even got a business plan or traffic study to back this decision up. Cllr Bell keeps saying the council has to reduce in size and stay smaller. I have my doubts that he means this. I have done a small piece on this on my own blog http://wwwcolmcostello.blogspot.com/2011/04/smaller-council.html I hope that goes some way to answering your question. Yes it is difficult for Labour but they are making wrong decisions here and spending on their priorities and not residents |