The Council’s Cabinet meets today (Wednesday 23rd January) and top of the agenda is to finalise the budget for 2013/14 to 2015/16, so that we can put the proposals to all councillors in a week’s time.
We’ve spent a lot of time weighing up the feedback from the public consultation. We had over 600 comments, so thank you to everyone who contributed.
As you might expect, most of the comments relate to things that are being cut. People naturally don’t want you to stop delivering a service they passionately believe in; the problem is that they are more reluctant to say where else they would make cuts to save the money.
That’s understandable, I suppose, but the Cabinet doesn’t have that luxury. We have to save £62 million and, while we have made some changes as a result of people’s feedback, and have huge sympathy for many of the arguments being put forward, there’s very little room for manoeuvre. When someone says to me, “we only want £20,000,” I have to remind them that £20K could cost someone their job elsewhere in the Council.
Overall, then, I can tell you that many of the proposals we originally consulted on will be taken to the Full Council meeting on 30th January.
As I’ve said before, I won’t be commending this budget to Full Council. It’s some consolation that we’re keeping libraries, and children’s centres open, and putting £2.5m into adult social care, as well as extra money into some neighbourhood services – but not much consolation. We’ve had to make some very tough decisions, and we’ve tried to do it in the fairest way possible.
But this is not what I came into politics to do. I want to improve services and service delivery for the people of Derby, and ensure we have a thriving city with jobs and opportunities for all.
I don’t know why you came into politics in the 1st place. Should have stuck to PR, you are good at that.
Thanks for your comment, Jan – I think all politicians need good PR skills (our Prime Minister is a former PR man), though by profession I was a member of the Incorporated Practitioners in Advertising (IPA). So I am an ‘ad man’ rather than a PR man. I worked in the industry for over 26 years so I think I know a bit about it.
I came into politics because I was motivated to stop what I saw as the Tory destruction of our country in the early 1990s. I want to ensure Derby, the city of my birth, is a vibrant place to live, with plenty of well-paid, quality jobs for the people (including my children and grandchildren) to work in.
I would also work for world peace but I am not sure I’d look good at my age in swimwear.*
* Written with tongue firmly in cheek.