Peterborough City Council's Cabinet is proposing to revise its
budget proposals for 2011/12 and the following four years after an
extensive three-month consultation with residents, businesses and
other groups and organisations.
Almost 200 comments were received including 54 letters, emails
and feedback forms, as well as comments gathered at scrutiny and
neighbourhood council meetings, a special business budget event and
at other consultation meetings with partners.
The issue that generated the most opposition was the proposed
allotments rent increases. Other contentious issues included
wheelie bin charges and adult social care charges. An extensive
internal consultation has also been carried out with staff and
unions about the proposed changes to staff terms and conditions
As a result of feedback received so far, the cabinet members
responsible for those affected areas are recommending that the
original budget proposals are changed at the next Cabinet meeting
on 7 February 2011. The proposed changes are outlined below:
• Allotment charges - The charge for a standard size allotment
will remain unchanged from the original proposals at £52 per
calendar year for the period from 1 January to 31 December. This
figure will rise annually in line with the Consumer Price Index
(CPI). However the charge for allotments smaller than 300 sq yards
will be £39 per year. A 30 per cent discount will be available on
the first allotment held by anyone who receives benefits or a state
pension. Individuals who hold more than one allotment will pay the
full charge for any other allotments.
• Wheelie bin charges - Residents whose bin is lost or stolen
will be entitled to one free replacement bin if they choose to have
a recycled, previously-used bin. New properties will be charged for
wheelie bins.
• Adult social care - The amended proposals include phased
increases in charges over the next three years for those people who
already receive services.
15 comments were received about councillors’ allowances and
parking. Allowances for councillors are considered by an
independent panel, which takes into account all circumstances,
including allowances paid elsewhere in the country. The panel then
makes recommendations to full council, which is obliged to take
those recommendations into account. The latest review by the panel
will be presented to full council on 23 February 2011.
The cabinet will discuss a proposal to introduce parking charges
for all councillors and will make a recommendation that will go to
full council on 23 February 2011 as part of the review of
councillors’ allowances.
Councillor David Seaton, cabinet member for resources, said:
"Like all councils across the country, we are having to make some
tough decisions this year about the services we provide and how we
can continue to invest in the future of the city with less funding
from government.
"We wanted to ensure we gave the people of Peterborough, our
staff, businesses and partner organisations the chance to read and
digest all of the savings, efficiencies and investments we are
intending to make, give their feedback and make any suggestions of
their own on how we can meet our funding gap. We organised special
neighbourhood council meetings and attended meetings with other
organisations to talk through the proposals and help people to
understand them.
"We have listened to what people have said to us and in light of
their comments have made some important changes. We hope this will
encourage people to continue to work with us to ensure we make the
right decisions and invest in those areas to allow Peterborough to
be a great place to live, work and visit both now and in the
future. I would like to thank all those people and organisations
who got involved and either attended one of the meetings to give
their views or have emailed, written a letter or filled in the
on-line feedback form."
The council's budget proposals were published a month earlier in
an easy-to-read guide at the end of October. The Cabinet agreed for
these proposals to go out for public consultation on 7 November
2010. The proposals were amended in December following the
provisional local government finance settlement from
Government.
The city council was one of the first in the country to publish
such detailed proposals which outlined the efficiencies, savings,
investments and reductions in services the council could make from
2011/12 to 2015/16 to help meet its gap in funding.
The detailed proposals outline how the council intends to use
Government funding available to prudent authorities who are
managing their budgets efficiently to freeze council tax for
2011/12.
It also includes the investments the Cabinet proposes to make in
a range of amenities including LED bulbs for the council’s 24,000
network of street lamps to reduce energy costs and the impact on
the environment, as well as funding to help bring forward some of
the council’s growth projects, including the South Bank and the
Station Quarter, amongst others. The cabinet papers are published
today at 5pm at
http://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=116&MId=1905&Ver=4.
Ends.
Additional information:
1. People can read and respond to the proposals in the Budget
Challenge area of the council's website www.peterborough.gov.uk/budgetchallenge
2. To make it as easy as possible for people to find the
information, there has been a link from the home page called Budget
Challenge.
3. The Budget Challenge pages include an on-line questionnaire, an
electronic version of the full document and the ability to download
the document in each of the sections outlined in the contents page,
from (a) reducing consultancy costs to the individual sections that
relate to each service area.
4. People can still email their responses to budgetchallenge@peterborough.gov.uk,
or fill in the simple two-question survey on the website, or
complete the feedback form that appeared in the November edition of
the council’s civic magazine Your Peterborough. They can also write
to Budget Challenge, financial services manager, Peterborough City
Council, Manor Drive, Paston Parkway, Peterborough, PE4 7AJ. 5. The
deadline for responses is 5pm on 9 February 2011.