Residents' Views Sought on £3,000,000 Cuts

West Lindsey District Council is preparing itself for continuing reductions to the central government grant, which is a significant portion of the authority's income, in the future.

Above: A consultation event is well attended at the Old
School, Mill Hill, Nettleham.

With a prolonged and difficult financial climate the government has announced further cuts to the Council’s grant over the next three financial years. It means the Council will need to find £3,000,000 of savings.

To do this the Council needs to understand what local residents think about current services provided by the Council and what should be the Council's priorities for the future. Local residents, across the district, have had the opportunity to attend workshops. For those residents that have not attended they are invited to complete an online questionnaire (click here) to ensure that their views are heard.

Cllr. Giles McNeill, Conservative (Nettleham Ward), said:

"I hope as many people as possible will take the survey. It is really important that we get a good sample of respondents as it will help us ensure that valued services are retained, whilst services that the vast majority of people don't support can be cut.

"I attended the event at the Old School in Nettleham and was very proud of the turnout from Nettleham, Greetwell and other neighbouring parishes." 

All responses must be submitted by Monday, 2nd September 2013. Residents with any questions should e-mail: engagement@west-lindsey.gov.uk.

Nettleham Library Threatened with Closure

Lincolnshire County Council, who run local library services, have to make £125 million of savings. Already nearly £90 million has been achieved but a further £35 million has to be found in the next two years. The Library Service, which current has a budget in excess of £6 million is expected contribute by saving around £1.9 million on its current budget. It is proposed that a number of local libraries, including the one in Nettleham, be run by teams of volunteers.

 

Nettleham Parish Council met last night, and briefly addressed the proposed changes to library services within the village. Whilst it was not possible to include a full and substantive discussion on the matter, some consideration took place and representation were received from members of the public.

 

Nettleham Parish Council had been surprised by the county council's plans, only hearing last Friday that changes to the library service were needed, with other residents across the county, when the plans were leaked, prior to Monday, 2nd July, when public consultation was due to begin. The leaking of these plans has caused distress to staff in the libraries, who face an uncertain future, and who found out about the changes through local media's reports of the leak and not in line with the planned consultation timetable.

 

One local resident, Emily Evision, of Sudbrooke Lane, said:

"I had a moment to speak and tried to state the needs of all parts of the community, and how strongly people feel about saving our library. Councillor Jackie Brockway tried to change the [County Council's] decision into an opportunity to get something that works better for us. Giles McNeill offered us his support, and I believe that all of the Parish Councillors were unhappy with the idea of losing the library.

"[The Parish Council] decided to bring the subject up for proper full discussion at the next meeting in July. At that point we can table questions and be a part of the discussion. They also decided to hold a special public meeting on the library closure in early September."

District Councillor Giles McNeill, Conservative (Nettleham Ward) added:

"I want to see our library remain open and if that means looking at a range of different options to do that, then we must.

"Local Council's face a difficult time - on the one hand demand for services continues to increase, whilst on the other the money local authorities receive from central government is reducing. This is putting enormous pressure on politicians to square the circle and do as much as possible with constrained resources.

"I am really proud that local residents are taking the initiative to fight to retain a library in Nettleham.  I have offered my support to the campaign to 'Save Nettleham Library' and am prepared to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and offer a portion of my Councillor Initiative Fund monies to help any local community group look into the question of taking on running Nettleham Library.

"The information age presents great challenges to the traditional model of a library - but potentially it provides great opportunity for local people to recast a local service into more suitable provision, dynamic and reactive to local needs."

Details of the 'Save Nettleham Library' campaign group can be found on facebook. A petition has been started and can be found online here.

West Lindsey On Track For Balanced Budget

West Lindsey District Council already has a lean budget, thanks to changes made by Conservatives who took control in May 2008. It is now apparent that most of this year's spending will be balanced by efficiency savings and income, with no services being scrapped.

The authority currently has one of the lowest charges in the country and is also debt free.

Leader of the Council, Cllr. Burt Keimach, Conservative (Market Rasen Ward), said:

"We received the worst district council settlement on government funding in Lincolnshire and among one of the worst in the country, but we are proposing no council tax rise.

"We still have a lot of work to do, but early indications show we will be able to balance our budget for this financial year without impacting on key services, making expensive redundancies or increasing council tax."

The council needs to save £2.5m over the next two years and another £250,000 as a result of other pressures, such as inflation. Although the council's budget will not be officially agreed until Monday, 7th March 2011, there is cause for optomism.

Lincoln's Conservative-led Council On Course With £1.3m Spending Cuts

Cllr. Darren Drice, Conservative leader of the City of Lincoln Council has announced that the authority has met about fifty percent of its savings targets. In September 2008 the council began a review of services and to date has made £1,300,000 of savings.

The ruling Conservative administration is planning to shave two and a half million off the authority's budget by 2012. Lincoln residents can now expect to see further changes as the authority enters the second phase of improving the authority's financial situation.

Cllr. Darren Grice said:

"The executive would not have wanted to make many of these decisions had financial circumstances been different.

"However, during this challenging period we have a responsibility to Lincoln residents to make sure we make the correct decisions for the future of the council and the city.

"Thankfully we were well prepared for this situation and haven't had to suffer the mass redundancies that other authorities have faced."

It is understood that the second phase of chnges is to include a range of 'back office' services at the council that are less visible to the public.

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