Press Releases for 2004

OUR AREA FACES FUNDING CRISIS - GREEN COUNCILLOR OFFERS SOLUTIONS

9th September 2004

Wendy Harris, Green Party councillor for Hythe Central, is promoting initiatives which may help Shepway District Council to deal with its funding problems. The Audit Commission make strong criticisms of the Council in its July report and indicated Shepway did not have the money to carry out its plans. Wendy notes:

Our area faces the possibility of serious cuts in valued services unless radical measures are taken. But the problems we face are not all of Shepway's making. Our Labour Government has decided to give four times as much to the quangos it funds as to the whole of local government (1). Little wonder then that every local council struggles to fund services when our taxes are flowing into quangos instead of being used for local services. The Council should not consider cutting areas that the Audit Commission has praised , like recycling, waste management and parks and gardens. However there are areas of essential improvement, for example meeting the needs of the Disability Discrimination Act.. If cuts are still needed there are some obvious areas:

* Paying consultancies for advice, when we should as the Audit Commission said consult local people more.
* Stopping general support to private sector representative bodies which should be able to fund themselves from their own resources.
* Freezing non-essential council advertising.
* Over a longer period, improving energy conservation in council-owned premises and embracing technology which cuts energy bills.

"There is no magic bullet here, but councillors need to find consensus on necessary measures quickly, regardless of past differences, or services to the public will suffer." ENDS c285 words

FURTHER INFORMATION: Councillor Wendy Harris, Hythe Central, on 01303 266172. Contact address as above. Comments are based on an ongoing assessment of the Audit Commission's July 2004 Comprehensive Performance Assessment OF Shepway District Council. Notes: 1. Speech by Sandy Bruce-Lockhart , Local Government Association: http://society.guardian.co.uk/modlocalgov/story/0,7999,1299092,00.html

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