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Plans to slash city council numbers
Photo David Hurst Deputy Leader Counc Eric Fazackerley with the 'unlisted' Preston Bus Station
Plans to reduce the number of Preston politicians by nearly a third are to be debated by Town Hall bosses.
The Liberal Democrat group on the city’s council has confirmed it will put forward plans to cut the number of councillors from 57 to just 40 in a bid to cut costs.
They claim it will save the authority £179,000 every four years by scrapping one of its elections and around £60,000 a year in cash allowances paid out to members.
Coun John Potter, the Liberal Democrats’ finance spokesman, said the group would be putting forward the proposal as part of a package of cuts due to be announced in the council’s budget next year.
He said: “The role of the council has changed a lot since the decision was taken to create that number of councillors.
“We no longer look after housing, for example, which was a bit part of the council’s remit and we believe we can cut a cost here without impacting on the level of democracy people have in Preston.
“It is not just 57 city councillors we have, there are 10 members of Lancashire County Council in Preston as well.
“Councillors cannot be exempt from cuts.”
He said the proposal would be to reduce the number of councillors in wards where there are three representatives to just two and change ward boundaries.
Eric Fazackerley, deputy leader of the Conservative group, said he would support the proposals for the reduction which he has put forward to councillors in the past.
But he said there were members of his group who may not support the move.
Coun Fazackerley said: “If it came to it, I would certainly look to persuade my fellow members to support it.
“It would have an up-front cost with regards consulting over the changes but in the long-term I believe it would save money and it is something I have long championed.”
Coun Martyn Rawlinson, the cabinet member for resources on the authority’s Labour-led cabinet, said there was potential for the reduction to increase costs.
He warned the Government could look to reduce the grant handed to the council if it considered it to have less councillors to pay or the independent panel which sets councillors’ expenses could look to raise the levels.
Coun Rawlinson said: “The Government is not daft, if it sees us reducing the number of councillors by nearly a third, they will simply cut the grant we receive.
“If that were to happen or the independent panel which sets councillors expenses levels were to give us an increase, we could actually end up spending more.
“There are so many unknowns.”
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Comments
There are 25 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
duncan49
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 04:57 PMFantastic news, would have been even better if the number had be higher !
Keep Labour Out
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 09:33 PMWhy do we even have county councillors? The County Council is just another layer of bureaucracy sandwiched in the middle. Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen cope very well without LCC. Also what annoys me most is these greedy councillors who sit on TWO authorities like Clive Grunshaw, its all about the money. He earns nearly £50k a year in allowances as he is also on the LPA, it is a joke. Any move to reduce the number of councillors is a good thing.
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 09:13 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 09:06 PMFor some reason I can't get my reponse in the Doktorb. Just asking him to look at it from a Labour Councillorsupporter point of view. never mind - wait till the next time her comments.
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 09:01 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:59 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:58 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:56 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:55 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:53 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:52 PMPending Moderation
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:39 PMPending Moderation
Doktorb
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:25 PMTJ - please can you examine just how it looks from my point of view? I have to rebuild my life, and am trying to do so knowing that every turn, certain people are unable to get out of an incident which happened last year. Yes, it was crass and stupid of me, and Lord knows I had to examine every inch of my character after it happened. But only the most partisan of small-minded people are bringing this up - to ridicule and to insult and to kick me lower and lower. The people of Riversway had their say in the subsequent byelection. I can do no more or less than carry on with my life - why are you obsessed with bullying me after I've admitted to being an idiot? I can never return to the life I had before 2010, why do you want to drag me back there? As for the Lane Ends comment, I did not suggest putting a polling station in the pub, I suggested adding an extra polling station in or around the car park area. Tulketh is a very large ward and people have to walk a long way to St Cuthburts or to Roebuck. Can you please examine whatever morality register you have for whatever good you think comes from this continued insulting of my character? I know that I was an idiot, it's all over the Internet, I don't need someone whip-cracking every time I try to make a point on this forum. I have done enough crying this year because of my mother's death, I wish that reading the LEP didn't make me so upset....
realworldman
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:24 PMI believe the level of representation is a matter for the Electoral Commission and not something Preston City Council can decide. PCC could presumably request a review and make a submission to that review. In the meantime it would be useful for a review of councillors workloads to be carried out to establish if they are overworked or underworked or as some would suggest in today's world of 'decision making powers delegated to officials', cabinet portfolio holders running the city and the housing, bus company, commercial port and wholesale markets sold on or closed. How many requests for help do city councillors receive each week from their constituents, most folk could not name their local council representatives never mind know how to contact them. It is not unknown for councillors to use the town hall as their contact address to keep their home address private; or indeed to provide only a work hours phone number as their contact number. Compared to attendance at meetings, how much of the councillor's time is spent being entertained, on jaunts or holidaying on the pretext of twin town visits?
TJ
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 07:52 PMDorktorb - this resolution is not about County Councillors its about City Councillors. Even then as County Councillors cover three wards then technically the maximium is 3 and a third. Only someone like you who is so stupid as to think the Lane Ends pub is a suitable place for a polling station in Tulketh (it isn't even in that ward) can make such crass comments as you make. I am sorry for your personaly mishaps - but maybe members of the Labour group who you criticise might have had similier mishaps. Its a matter of people in glass houses should't throw stones. You wasted a great deal of council tax payers money by a personal decision. You have no right to criticise anyone you consider wasting money for political reasons.
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