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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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£24m CUTS BLOW 358 jobs may go... and even the ceremonial Lord Mayor isn’t safe BY ALEX CAMPBELL alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk
COUNCIL tax will rise and 358 jobs will be made redundant under plans to save £24 million at a cashstrapped authority. Stoke-on-Trent City Council today begins public consultation on its sweeping cuts package which will see the axe fall on everything from care homes to the ceremonial role of the Lord Mayor. The Labour-controlled authority is set to reject a Government cash incentive to freeze council tax fees and instead increase them by 3.5 per cent to shave £3 million from the £24 million savings target. That would see people living in 69,000 Band A properties paying an extra £26.68 in 2012/13. A further £3 million in extra efficiency savings the council has made this year will be carried forward. The council also plans to use £5 million raised from the cuts as investment to try to attract new businesses to Stoke-on-Trent. A detailed breakdown of the proposed savings reveals: ■ Day care centres in Burslem, Shelton and Fenton could be closed to save £700,000 with 40 jobs axed; ■ Care homes at The Meadows, in Bucknall, and St Michael’s, in Chell, could close as care homes are considered for “alter native use” to save £334,000; ■ The 358 proposed job cuts are made up of 288 redundancies and the closure of 70 vacant posts; ■ Four senior management positions costing £424,000-a-year could be axed; ■ Brown bin col-
lections for compostable food, garden cuttings and cardboard could be stopped between November and March to save £170,000; ■ The historic post of Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, which date back to 1928, could be stripped of its ceremonial responsibilities with no further civic functions. Up to £130,000 would be saved by also axing the Mayor’s chauffeur, car and secretary; ■ Plans to reduce opening hours at the city’s libraries and Gladstone Pottery Museum, in Longton, and proposals to increase charges at Northwood Stadium. The planned cuts for 2012/13 follow a £35.6 million savings programme, which saw almost 800 jobs cut earlier this year. They reflect a further reduction in Government funding of £8 million and £11 million in unavoidable cost pressures such as rising inflation, contractual pay increases and payback plans for major capital investments. Council leader Mohammed Pervez, pictured below, said: “We’re in a nightmare situation.” Addressing the issue of further redundancies, chief executive John van de Laarschot said: “We have probably had 1,000 too many people working for us based on the council’s size and the population that we serve.” The council had 5,433 employees at the end of June. Consultation on the proposal ends on December 23. See Pages 2&3
Showdown for primary schools MINISTERS from the Department for Education will meet with MPs to discuss the Government’s intervention at six primary schools. The Sentinel revealed last week how six primaries in Stoke-on-Trent have been told to become academies after being placed on a Government hit list of under-performing schools. Speaking to Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley in the House of Commons yesterday, Education Secretary Michael Gove said ministers will meet with leaders in the city to discuss the move. See Page 15
Chef is jailed A CHEF kept the till takings from a hospital where he worked to pay his debts, rather than putting them in the bank. Alan Hoskin yesterday started an 15-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to theft from the North Staffordshire Nuffield Hospital, in Clayton. He admitted stealing £15,286. See Page 4
CHANGES: The planned cuts will affect, clockwise from left, the Lord Mayor, libraries, museums, Northwood Stadium and bin services, with 350 jobs lost.
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