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THE SENTINEL Wednesday November 28, 2012
WHAT WAS AXED IN 2010/11 ■ More than 2,000 people failed to stop the closure of Tunstall Pool. The pool closed in March, 2011 to save £80,000-a-year and the building remains empty today. Attempts by campaigners to reopen the pool failed because of a lack of interest among residents. ■ More than 40 care workers lost their jobs as two care homes were closed down to save £1 million. Eardley House, in Bradeley, and Heathside House, in Goldenhill, both closed in 2011 after elderly residents were moved from the homes. ■ Much-loved tourist attraction City Farm opened for the last time in March, 2011. The farm – which had been operating within Bucknall Park for more than 30 years – played a key community role, including offering work placements to people with learning disabilities and playing host to school trips. But the attraction was closed to save £143,000-a-year. City Farm attracted 89,600 visitors throughout 2010. ■ Shelton Pool has now been
demolished after being closed down in March, 2011. Campaigners fought to save the popular pool from the axe. But councillors approved the closure to save £82,000-ayear. ■ Stoke Recreation Centre has still not been sold – despite being closed down by the council in March, 2011. The Booth Street centre – which attracted around 34,000 users-a-year – was closed to save £39,000. The centre remains on the market as its long-term future is being reviewed. ■ Failed tourist attraction Ceramica was closed down after the council pulled its £150,000-a-year funding. The Millennium project had been expected to attract 100,000 visitors a year to Burslem. But it opened four years late in 2003 and fewer than 8,000 people had visited the museum each year since April 2007. ■ Libraries at Burslem and Fenton were shut to save £191,000-a-year. A mobile library service was also cut.
WHAT WENT IN 2011/12 ■ All six of Stoke-on-Trent’s main public libraries – at Tunstall, Hanley, Longton, Meir, Stoke and Bentilee – have been closed at the ‘least busiest’ times. Plans for a full library service at Blurton were also scrapped. The overall plan saved £100,000. ■ Campaigners lost their fight to save Barlaston’s Wedgwood Memorial College from closure. The move saved £28,000-ayear and allowed the council to escape paying an additional £160,000 subsidy needed to keep operating the college. Campaigners are still drawing up business plans to try to reopen the centre before it is sold by the council. ■ Pensioners and the disabled now have to pay to travel on Stoke-on-Trent’s buses before 9.30am. The council introduced the charge, despite OAPs and the disabled in neighbouring Staffordshire receiving free 24-hour travel. The decision has proved so unpopular that First Bus is trying to win back passengers
with a trial £1 fare before 9.30am. ■ Efficiency savings were made in bereavement care, trading standards, registrars and environmental health. There was also reduced spending on pest control, while teams who respond to late-night noise complaints are now only available at weekends during the summer. The whole package saved £160,000. ■ Four dedicated town centre regeneration managers – covering Burslem, Stoke and Longton – were lost to save £77,000. Their work was swallowed up by the council’s regeneration department. ■ Organic waste recycling collections are now suspended between November and March every year with residents told to homecompost the rubbish or dump it in with general waste to save £170,000-a-year. ■ Six jobs were lost as spending on public relations and communications were cut to save £200,000.
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THE SENTINEL Wednesday November 28, 2012
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Threat to frontline as cuts spark fear for jobs AUSTERITY cuts from central Government have become so severe that frontline services can no longer be protected, according to the city council’s leadership. Nursery education and adult social care are among the biggest losers in citywide savings of £21.1 million. The authority is to look increasingly to private and independent organisations to provide care it can no longer afford in-house. Staff will also bear the brunt as up to 250 more jobs and some senior posts are cut, contractual perks targeted for savings and a series of departments subjected to cost-cutting reviews to squeeze savings of £7.6 million. But leaders say Government funding reductions are now unmanageable without targeting even the services it is legally required to provide. And they believe the council must become ‘independent of the Government’ – finding ways to attract new businesses and create jobs without central funding support. Labour and council leader Mohammed Pervez said: “These cuts are having a huge impact on the quality of life of our residents. “We have been very vocal in our rebuttal to the Government’s cuts. They say we’re all in it together but they have imposed bigger cuts on deprived cities like Stoke-onTrent – which have depended on their grants – than they have on affluent areas. It is totally unfair. “We have to become independent of the Government. It’s crucial we generate income within the city and we can only do this if we attract businesses and raise money from the business rates they pay. “The Government is simply not helping us and we have to do more to find ways to pay for our services.” Among the most controversial cuts is £1.7 million savings in nursery education, which could slash free weekly provision by half to the legal minimum of 15 hours. The authority will task an
As fresh savings are revealed, Alex Campbell talks to council leaders about the future of services independent panel, including national specialist Eleni Ioannides and children’s centre cuts campaigner Milissa Beydilli, to explore ways it can improve attainment in Key Stage One despite the cuts. Mr Pervez said: “We’ve been providing 30 hours of nursery care for three and four-yearolds and children’s centre support on top. “However, despite all the spending, the net result has been that we’re at the bottom of the list for Key Stage One results. That simply is not good enough and something drastically needs to change. “What I want is for us to focus on outcomes, not the amount of money we spend. We have to improve results and the panel will support our review with their own expertise.” Budget proposals for 2013/14 do not include any additional investment proposals to support the authority’s Mandate for Change vision to create jobs. More than £4 million was added to the 2012/13 savings bill for projects to kick-start economic growth. But Mr Pervez said attracting new businesses to the city in the face of continued spending cuts remains the authority’s top priority. And loaning £40 million to build a new Civic Centre in Hanley’s emerging Central Business District (CBD) remains fundamental to the strategy. Mr Pervez added: “We cannot borrow £40 million to pay for services, it’s a different budget. “I know there’s a lot of misunderstanding around why we want to go ahead with the CBD, but without it we will not be able to secure further investment in our city centre. “Jobs will be created both during the construction phase and beyond. “Selling the Spode and Civic Centre sites in Stoke will raise millions to allow the council to pay back loans.” Chief executive John van de Laarschot, right, believes cuts are now exceeding a level the authority can sustain.
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Headteachers may have to dip into school reserves to pay for their crossing patrols CUTS could see lollipop wardens withdrawn from schools which have a nearby pedestrian crossing – unless headteachers find money from their own budgets to pay for them. Parents and wardens yesterday raised concerns about the costcutting plans, claiming children’s lives will be put at risk. Janet Williams, a crossing patrol warden of 20 years, from Williams Court, in Pittshill, works at Whitfield Valley Primary School in Fegg Hayes. The 59-year-old, who earns about £249 for her 10 hours a week, said: “The pupils at this school need me. Some of them are very young and they walk themselves to school. You see kids as little as eight or nine crossing the road here. “The cars race along this road and even though there’s a crossing, sometimes they ignore it and park across the lines. “They threaten to do this every now and then but the parents always protest. If I lost my job here I don’t know what I would do.”
He said: “It’s not easy. We originally estimated saving £100 million over four years and to date those predictions have been scarily accurate. “In the earlier years it is easier, although the first year’s savings came as a huge shock to the city. The settlement was late and we had to make savings quickly. “The organisation understands there’s going to be continual change and continual belt-tighten-
ing. But it is very difficult. “There are still some efficiency savings to be made by being more effective and delivering more for less but it’s starting to get tight. “There’s always criticism about management posts, but in two years we’ve seen a reduction of 50 per cent which has saved £2 million. In fact from a strategic capacity perspective, things are starting to get rather tight.” Mr van de Laarschot said major outsourcing cannot be ruled out, adding; “We are looking at it, across a broad range of
How other savings could be made as authority looks to slash over Further savings now being considered for 2013/14 include: ■ Cutting gym staff with cafe and pool opening hours reduced at Dimensions, left, and creche opening hours reduced at Fenton Manor; ■ Shutting more buildings and downsizing into ‘hubs’ ahead of the council’s city centre relocation with repairs and alterations bills scaled back to save £610,000; ■ Freezing councillors’
allowances in line with the ongoing pay freeze for staff to save £100,000; ■ Back office savings of up to £734,000 through courier service and administration cuts, and reductions in
storage and paper; ■ Reviewing PR, communications and marketing, including Our City magazine, with £25,000 consultant Westco to recommend cuts of £350,000; ■ Withdrawing automatic grants for ‘Live’ concerts, the Stoke-on-Trent Music Festival and Make Some Noise charity and inviting groups to bid for cash from a community fund; ■ Increasing fees charged for venue hire,
services, but with a degree of caution and not jumping in foolhardily.” Councillor Dave Conway, leader of the opposition City Independents, raised concerns about cuts to programmes supporting the long-term unemployed and business start-ups – both of which relate to national and European schemes which have now ended. He said: “Everything they say is about wanting to support jobs, but this is not going to help. “We warned that parking charges at Dimensions was pennywise and pound foolish.
“Now they are cutting back on the pool and cafe times, driving more people to WaterWorld, because of reduced demand. That is not going to help raise income.” “There is not enough meat on the bones. A lot of the proposals are ambiguous to say the least and they will have to provide more information if this is going to be a proper consultation.” The city council has already announced it will freeze council tax from April, despite needing to make the savings. Councillor Abi Brown, Con-
servative leader, said: “We cautiously welcome the decision to freeze tax but we will be looking very carefully at the budget proposals to see if there are other ways we can make savings.” Yesterday, The Sentinel revealed leaders at Newcastle Borough Council are planning a third successive council tax freeze from April. And Staffordshire County Council also wants to freeze the bill in the next financial year.
Janet’s daughter Stephanie Williams, a mum-of-five, of Chell Heath, added: “My mum works really hard to look after the kids when they cross the road. “My eldest children walk to school every day and I would not be happy if we didn’t know they were being kept an eye on by the roads.” Lollipop man of 10 years Peter Chadwick, pictured left, of Huron Grove, who helps pupils from Trentham High School, cross the road, said: “The first thing you think about is children’s lives being put at risk. “It won’t be fair if some parts of the city can afford it and others can’t.” Abbey Ford, aged 17, of Fegg Hayes, walks her five-year-old brother to school. She added: “He’s only five now. “But eventually he will walk himself to school. “I can’t understand why anyone would risk the safety of the kids. “They’re only little and if someone got hit by a car it would be a tragedy.”
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£21m from its budget... exhibition guides and merchandise at the Potteries and Gladstone Pottery museums, left; ■ Reducing opening hours at the city’s tourist information centre; ■ Saving £1.5 million from the way the council pays contracts and buys goods and services; ■ Cutting back on LGV drivers, assistant park keepers and grounds staff, as well as reviewing payments
made to staff who are kept on standby, to help save £2.5 million; ■ Relocating the Burslem gymnastics centre to Dimensions; ■ Withholding funding for events such as the Tour Of Britain, above,
and attempting to cover the shortfall by raising corporate sponsorship; ■ Trimming £70,000 from the cost of paying full-time trade union representatives to reflect plummeting staff levels; ■ Saving £485,000 in vulnerable children’s services by focusing spending on priority areas; ■ Reductions of more than £700,000 for projects designed to tackle unemployment
and support business start-ups in line with national funding and ahead of Governmentbacked projects; ■ Cutting waste sent to landfill, raising more cash from collecting trade waste and speeding up bin rounds using sat-navs and gadgets to save £140,000; ■ Redesigning some departments, cutting HR, and completing the children and adults’ services merger to save £1.8 million.
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