That was the budget-setting week that was

Rocke · That was the budget-setting week that was

And at one point I thought the meeting would last a week !

Dateline 2pm, last Tuesday 10th March.
Full Council to discuss the measures required to balance the books for this coming year.

2:32 - we finally got around to the Leader presenting it.

Over 30 minutes of bickering, points of order and what the politicians would probably refer to as banter.
Great start.

Our Madam Mayor welcomes all those in the public gallery and hopes they'll find it interesting.
Too right they will - they're all council staff, some of who work in functions that might be affected by redundancies.

Anyway, a lot's been written by me regarding things some of you have queried, so that means that I can be a bit more concise !

What I'm not going to do here is to explain the reasoning behind the measures taken - because quite frankly I had no input into it.
All I'm going to do is give my understanding of things.

Firstly, an increase of 4.95%.
I don't know why we should have only the percentage increase ( I know why - politics and PR ).
I'll confess now that I don't even know what the current Band rates are ( I don't own 7 houses, one in each Band ).
However, 4.95% on ours means an extra £40-odd for us.
Using a BBC-quoted figure Band D property residents would pay and extra £50-odd.

You can argue the ins and outs but at the end of the day it's a lot less than the increase we'll have in our energy bills this coming year, I bet.
However, the actual figure is significantly higher than our neighbouring authorities and that is the figure I'd like to see us ( councillors ) attacking. I have explained in another post the reason for it. Perhaps I might get a thread going to enable people to see the issues and suggest ways to getting our CTax Band levies down somewhere near average.

On this basis you can see that the alternative budget put forward would have reduced the increase by around £10-£12.

Fortnightly refuse collections are not exactly that.
Non-recycleable refuse will be collected fortnightly but paper, food waste etc. will continue as now.

Street Lighting savings will be achieved in areas where Health & Safety issues won't be breached ( road junctions ) and where the Police have cleared them. ie. they will be consulted on all proposals. If they believe that it would undermine crime prevention eg. a subway then those lights will remain.
Most lighting in residential areas is of an older style which cannot be easily switched off, if at all, as I understand.

Also, the lights will go off at or after midnight and be back on before nightshift and dayshift workers swap over.
However, we should remember that most pubs and clubs now have licences until midnight or later.

Hopefully there'll be a lot of consultation ( I was staggered that the schedules of switch offs weren't available at the meeting ).

Again, purely looking at things in black and white how many people would notice it ?
( Not an excuse for it happening but perhaps it does bring things into perspective ).

Impounding.
Again, all manner of problems have been associated with this.
To be blunt, this service has been plagued by problems from the moment it was born.
Over 30 years ago when I worked for Blaenau Gwent there were problems. The farmers used to gang up and not bid at market for each others' impounded sheep that the council tried to sell, so the council had to go further and further afield to sell them.
I think it was originally thought that it would pay for itself and clearly hasn't.

Another point.
One member pointed out the tragic death of the family from Ebbw Vale between Crumlin and Llan the other year. That was in Caerphilly's area.
He also mentioned that on the day of the meeting there were a few sheep roaming the streets of Cwm.

So, we've an impounding service that still er..... sees sheep roaming our streets ( see them in Aber over the weekend ? ).

My view is that we are better off without this.

It's not a compulsory duty of the Council.
In fact ANY landowner can provide an impounding service apparently.

Anyway, 3+ hours after starting ( and a few more bits of 'banter' ) we came down to the vote.

Labour asked for a recorded vote.
This is a ploy to try to frighten people that their vote might come back to haunt them. ( You know the sort of thing. In 3 years time their campaign leaflets will read 'and Cllr. x, who voted 4 times for increases to Council Tax' etc. etc. ).

As always, amendment first.
Labour Opposition's proposals voted down 21-12 ( I think ).
Budget carried by 20 votes - 12 ( I think ).

I was a bit surprised that quite a few councillors were not present.

Oh - the reason for the different numbers voting ?
Me.

I voted against the Labour amendment, having been convinced that it wasn't viable by arguments put forward, and advice provided by Chief Officers and staff.
I abstained on the budget proposal, not being convinced that we couldn't have come up with a mix that affected people - not least those who might lose their jobs - less.
This isn't a criticism however. It's just that the nature of this administration ( effectively a coalition of 20 parties - 18x Indep/non-aligned, PV and LibDem ) means we can't all sit in and there is no party line that we are presented with and can watch being followed.
Also, due to work commitments I don't get to all group meetings.

Hopefully though this first budget and the political management of it will be a helpful experience, ready to do it all again in 9 months time !

Couple of other things last week.
Trying to assist in a homelessness case and ongoing matters regarding our old Leisure Centre.

Oh - and a very heated argument trying to explain to someone on Saturday night ( I know, but my view is that I'm a 24-hour councillor, much to the annoyance of Ruth ) the reasons why the town looks like an entire redevelopment area, why we seem determined to break people's cars and/or their will to resist ( or at least drive ), my views on it and my intentions for the future.

Now some of my colleagues will realise where I get my 'enthusiasm' from.
Every time I bring up something in Regeneration meeting I remember the kickings I've had regarding the subjects I bring up. That's enough to power me.

Got an appeal against dismissal this week, so a lot of reading to do tomorrow.
Might even not have enough time to post...................

And then there's the responses to my letter that The Gazette thought worthy of publication.
I don't really know why I had to fully appraise the public of the misapprehensions of Mr. Dobbs and demonstrate exactly how much Cllr. McCarthy's self-vaunted £200,000 acquisition actually affected things.
I think it's because I'm really fed up with people not having things explained to them, so they can fairly make up their minds.

btw. the difference between the CTax increase this year and Labour's proposal ( 4.95% against their 3.85% ) was costed - by them - at £250,000.
I don't suppose that would account for the 3.9% last year - and Cllr. McCarthy's 200,000 quid success would it ?

No, it couldn't possibly........................

Cheers.

jools

Rocke

You're right there jools, on all counts.

The important thing to do ( I've deliberately highlighted it so everyone notices ) is to get to your councillor earlier rather than later.

Let them know where you have serious concerns.

I'm setting about lobbying for Members to have proposed schedules for their wards so they can get citizens involved.
I'm expecting ( hoping ) for meetings in the Cwmtillery Ward where hopefully we ( their councillors ) can show the proposals, explain why and how and then get perhaps better ideas from people themselves.

As an example of what I assume will happen, I came home from work this morning ( 3:30 ) and the lights on the Hafodrynys-Pontypool road were off, yet the old road's were all on.

One's a nice wide, relatively straight road, the other bendy, potholey and narrower.

Translated into one part of Aber, eg. we might find the 'straight' stretch from the southern end of Victoria Rd. to Aberbeeg switched off but Warm Turn - Railway left on, due to the different nature of the roads.

As soon as I get some meaty info. ( rather than scraps ) I'll post them.

Carolyn

We used to congregate around the street lights in the dark evenings chatting, playing games or even the park in the late evening up Gelli. We often got moved on if we were too noisy. Once it became too dark we would go indoors. I cannot understand why kids/youths would want to congregate in total darkness especially after 12. Even at a BBQ we put patio lights on.

I don't see how it would increase crime stats either, would be burglars surley would carry a torch and it is not as if they do it under a street light anyway where they can be seen it is usually up back alleys. Heat/movement sensitive hallogen lights will soon see them off and a sensible precaution for any householder, they can be purchased quite reasonably at Argos and othe places. Frightens the life out of couples who have nipped around the back for a bit of a kiss and cuddle tho Rolling Eyes

As for rape or assaults it always pays to get a taxi home or arrange for someone to pick you up or walk you home lights or no lights, it won't necessarily prevent the assault just makes it more difficult to identify the assailant. Many such atttacks happen in lonely spots and even in daylight.

Carolyn · Breakdown on council budget and how it will affect you

Rocke

A reasonably fair write up, perhaps a bit better than that, on the basis that the writer wouldn't have known that the gallery was comprised of all staff and around 10 councillors were missing.

( Our Chief Officers and other senior staff present totalled around a dozen ).

That was the budget-setting week that was

Breakdown on council budget and how it will affect you