October 2008 Focus

Do-Nothing Council - 3

Every year Gedling's Leisure Department increases its prices for the use of its leisure centres, pitches, etc. Last year it put up the prices by too much and takings dropped by £85,000! Last year the takings from hiring out the Millennium Suite on Foxhill Road, Carlton, dropped by £60,000. We were told this was due to the down-turn in the economy. The problem is that these losses were £12,000 per month and no-one seems to have noticed until the end of the financial year. The drop in income this year is now predicted to be £325,000 and at last something is being done. A committee is looking into it! Too little, too late?

Action-At Last?

Gedling's Tory cabinet asked the Carbon Renewal Trust to present a report on what the Borough could do to save money on its fuel costs. The report said that by spending £208,000, the Council could save enough energy get its money back in just under 2½ years, saving over £80,000 a year and then continuing to make those savings. What did they do with the report? It's not entirely clear, but they seem to have referred it to a committee of officers who will try to do the easy bits. Of course, the Council told them to do this in March 2007 and they have delayed for 12 months. That 12 months of inactivity means a little over £80,000 has been wasted and if the "committee of officers" isn't able to get on and do the job properly, then even more of your money will go down the drain.

Killisick Court-Arnold

The news gets worse. In August there was a special council meeting called by the Labour Party to debate the future of Killisick Court (we are not the only ones worried about this, it seems). The Labour Party don't quite understand the situation as they called for Killisick Court to be returned to warden-aided accommodation for the elderly, but the Borough has a surplus of such accommodation. At the meeting we accused the Tories of wasting £400,000 which they didn't deny, but they did claim that, even though the property was empty, the Council wasn't losing any rent! A lot of councillors laughed. The Evening Post reporter present said later that he had asked the Council's press office how much rent was being lost and he had been told it was £4,000 per month. Gedling's Tories are not spending your money wisely.

Council Tax - It IS Broke & We Must Fix It

Commenting on Conservative plans on Council Tax, Cllr Richard Kemp, LibDem Leader at the LGA, said: "The council tax system is flawed and the Tories' plan doesn't address the long term problems. The only way to get local government finance on a stable footing would be root and branch reform of how councils are funded so that they are less reliant on money from the Government. We believe that the only fair way of doing this is a Local Income Tax, which fairly reflects people's ability to pay. Councils are now the most efficient part of the public sector. Town halls are making savings of almost £100 million a month and will continue to make almost £5bn more savings over the next few years. The struggle to keep council tax down has become an annual battle for town halls because funding from central Government has failed to keep pace with the extra pressures placed on local services." Vince Cable MP, LibDem Shadow Chancellor, accusing his Tory counterpart George Osborne of "playing a hopeless game of catch up" over the proposal to freeze council tax, added: "Rather than making tough economic choices over tax and spending, George Osborne is simply passing the buck to local councils, expecting them to make arbitrary cuts. This false promise of freezing council tax will be entirely dependent on individual councils being able to cut their budgets, which is likely to leave the poorest areas with continuing council tax rises." Dr Cable also criticised Mr Osborne's "vague aspiration of national tax cuts at some point in the future". He added: "This country needs a party that is willing to take the tough choices today to reduce the tax burden for people on low and middle incomes hit hardest by the financial crisis."

Transport to Try Your Patience

There was a plan to extend the Robin Hood Line to Newark and Bingham but this now seems to have been dropped. Instead there is a proposal to reduce the number of trains calling at Burton Joyce from 12 to 7 heading towards Nottingham and from 12 to 7 heading towards Newark. To complain about this proposal to decimate the already sparse train frequency write to East Midlands Trains (Customer Relations, Freepost DY940 Derby DE1 2BR) and Passenger Focus (Freepost RRRE-ETTC-LEET P.O.Box 4257, Manchester M60 3AR).

Lorry Problem to Get Worse?

Focus has learned that the City and County Councils and Rushcliffe (West Bridgford and the southern part of the county) are planning to save money by having a joint depot for their lorries. Their problem is where to put it. They are looking at two pieces of land, both in this area - one on Severn Trent land recently taken out of the Green Belt for industrial uses which is accessed off the new by-pass road and the other on the Colwick industrial estate. This new depot would, if it goes ahead, mean a significant increase in lorry traffic using the Colwick Loop Road and also some increase in lorries going through Burton Joyce. At the present time we have no additional information but if the scheme progresses, we will keep you informed.