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Axe falls in Walsall Council cuts
Thursday 18th November 2010, 5:00PM GMT.
Walsall Council House
Libraries will be closed, meals on wheels reduced and a market axed under a Black Country council’s hard-hitting plan to save £65 million over the next three years, it can be revealed today.
Around 450 jobs will be lost at Walsall Council through both compulsory and voluntary redundancies.
Darlaston Market will be shut, creches axed and art galleries and museums’ services cut back. The total saved by the measures will be £16.6m over 12 months.
Residents can also expect to see the cost of parking permits increased, less council-funded transport for the elderly and fewer street-cleaning staff and vehicles.
Redundancies will hit staff across the board and workers will also be given less overtime. All 16 libraries will be put under review and the lowest performing ones face closure.
The draft three-year savings plan was unveiled at last night’s cabinet meeting, which had around 40 Unison protesters outside.
Council leader Mike Bird said: “This has not come without pain and suffering and many, many hours of work from officers and members. But we inherited an abomination from the previous government.”
A total of 187 vacant posts will never be filled and the remaining job losses will be achieved through voluntary and compulsory redundancies. A total of 149 jobs are believed to be at risk in social care alone.
Councillor Bird said he was also determined to drive down sickness levels at the council, where the average worker has 12.07 days off a year due to sickness.
Other plans include the introduction of charges for tradesmen’s parking dispensations, the closure of New Art Gallery Walsall on Sundays and bank holidays and the closure of creches at Oak Park and Bloxwich leisure centres. The council will approve the final revenue budget for 2011/12 on February 24 next year.
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glad to see mr bird has gone to the tory battle cry of “inherited financal mess from previous government”. well i am shocke dcos i thought walsall council ran the finance for the brough not the fat cats from whitehall, so surely the mess at walsall is the councils own doing. he should do the honouable thing and fall on his own sword .
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The mess left by the previous Labour government means that the funding for local councils from central government has had to be reduced, hence the cuts that are needed at Walsall. Don’t leave comments if you don’t understand what’s going on.
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Walsall council were in trouble long before this government took over. At one point they were bankrupt, and the head team were all replaced. Cuts are needed every where but why have the councillors had an increase in their allowances just because they think they are worth it?? The buck stops somewhere and never stops with these people. We the public are always the first to suffer throught their greed and incompetance.
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How many of the 450 will be faceless back-office middle-managers that wouldn’t be missed?
12.07 days off sick AVERAGE, on top of bank-holidays, generous annual-leave, flexi-time…………………..
How many working days is that?
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Rob48 you clearly show your ignorance. This is not going to be faceless back office middle mangagers, this is going to front line staff that are going. I know ’cause I work for the council. I do not take 12 days sick off, there are malingerers in any work place and sickeness levels are being driven down with the introduction of the Bradford Scoring System. Yes, we get B ak Hols, please do not tell me that we are the only people that get B/Hols off? The annual leave is in line with the average private sector worker and yes we get flexi time instead of being paid overtime, this is because we are expected to attend evening events, however if you want us to be paid ovetime out of the public purse instead….
Cllr Bird is incorrect when he states that there have been no compulsory redundancies. My department has already lost 2 members of staff and there are another 3 due to go at the end of the month, all due to redundancy.
However you clearly feel you can do a better job I suggest you get your CV in and try being slated at every turn by Joe Public and doing the job of two other people. THEN you will have the right to criticise.
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Always seem to be a grass roots level doesn’t it?
Where it hit US the council tax payer.
No mention of reducing Councillors, Councillors expenses or higher management jobs.
Always the easy option.
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Surprise, surprise, no mention of cutting councillors allowances which are the second highest in the country!!!!!! In a recent year the council leader took home over £35k!!
Nor any proposal to reduce the Chief exec’s inflated £275k salary!!!!!!!!!
What a shambles!!!!!!!!!!
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… but they can vote in favour of a rise in their councillor allowances
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An abomination from the previous Government! Has every Conservative forgotten that the world went into financial meltdown; Or do they just think that the general public are stupid!
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at last a cut in those who are overpaid – acheive little and think the work hard – poetic justice couldnt happier
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That’s a little harsh, you can not tar everyone with the same brush…
There are plenty of hardworking people in this Council who really try hard to make a difference and who also get frustrated by the crazy processes that have to be followed.
It is unfortunate that you obviously seem happy to see librarians, park rangers and creche workers lose their jobs?
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And the councillors thought they were worth their increase in expenses?? Then they make these cuts to much needed services in the area. They certainly know how to look after themselves don’t they?
As for council workers and the comment MR HAPPY..Instead of suffering from council job envy like most uneducated idiots do. Try getting a job with the council before making comments like yours. Overpaid?? Take a look at the council websites and the salary scales they pay. Group A starts below 10k a year and there are lots on this scale and up to scale c which is about 14-15k a year. OVERPAID are they?? Get your facts right before commenting and generalising on council staff!!
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Setting the cuts to meals on wheels and transport for the elderly for a moment, why is the council cutting libraries’ services while leaving the white elephant at Forest ‘Arts Centre’ untouched?
They are cutting services people need (meals on wheels, etc), cutting services people use (libraries, leather museum, local history centre, art gallery) but leaving unscathed one facility that wastes money at scandalous rates; NOT the school music service, I hasten to point out, but the genius that brings us plays that no one watches, derivative ‘folk’ music and more nonsense that only appeals to a tiny minority.
Stop this nonsense, save the libraries and museums, get rid of the airey-fairey wasters.
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I am a Walsall MBC Council Tax payer but work for Sandwell MBC.
The benefits are no longer great (especially ‘golden pensions’). Fears over job losses for hard working young families are a disgrace. I’ve worked here for 7 years and have never felt so threatened. It is the middle managers that get paid far to much who are faceless!!
Most council employees are hard working but have seriously lost morale as the papers know more than we do!
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whoever has chosen to reduce meals on wheels for the elderly, should be prepared to take responsibility for the consequences. The starvation of elderly walsall residents ie malnutrition and death. shame on walsall council.
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I work in a Council Department that has 1 staff member down, and we are struggling to cope. We are a front line service that cannot streamline or make our processes more efficient due to statutory regulation. It is not likely the vacant post we have will be filled – but the workload will not be any lighter. In fact, it’s one of the few services which will only get busier.
With more stress, longer hours and a higher workload, is it not surprising staff are suffering with sicknesses? I bet alot of these 12 days per employee per year off at Walsall MBC are down to Stress.
Staff your departments adequately, and see the sickness rate fall off.
Also, crack down on those that have frequent odd days off – don’t prey on those who have had one-off injuries and prolonged sickness.
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Perhaps Walsall could try training some of the useless staff they have sitting round & stop having to bring in temps to assess housing benefits etc who are paid £50 plus per hour- disgusting waste of money.
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The Country is in a mess, yes it’s true that Gordon Brown is in many ways responsible and his, like all Labour governments have left us with the results of their financial incompetence. The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money and yet we shouldn’t forget that it was greedy and avaricious bankers that have caused most of the huge debt we are having to finance, and they are still paying themselves vast bonuses.We are, even now, governed by career politicians who have never run anything in their lives,never had a “proper job” who allow uncontrolled immigration when there’s no work for our youngsters and continue to plough billions into a corrupt European super state! Will they be feeling the pinch? Some how I don’t think so.
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