More consultations on savings proposals

Regular readers will have noticed that every week there are new proposals coming out for ways to save money from South Glos Council's budget. By April next year, the council will have saved £43m from its annual budget – with around another £36m to be cut by 2020.

We have to make these savings because the council tax we pay only covers part of the coucil's costs. Most of the rest comes from central government grants, which are being reduced as part of tackling the deficit.

Some of the latest consultations include:

• A review of the council’s Private Sector Housing service, including landlord accreditation and empty homes management, with a target saving of £168,000 - the deadline for comments is 10 October 2014.
• Proposals for saving £50,000 from the Trading Standards service, including Lorry Watch, consumer advice and trader approval - the deadline for comments is 5 November 2014.
• A review of the council’s Community Engagement service, including the priority neighbourhoods scheme and safer, stronger community groups, with a target saving of £200,000 - the deadline for comments is 30 November 2014.
• Options for cutting £277,000 from the Community Safety and ASB team - the deadline for comments is 5 December.

You can find all current South Glos Council consultations online. 

All the political parties on the council agreed the savings targets when we set the budget in February. Wherever possible we want to make the savings by making things more efficient – better use of IT for example or cutting senior managers – but that alone is not enough. We have to make difficult decisions and the Lib Dem Focus Team wants to make sure this is done as fairly as possible. We want to protect the most vulnerable, work with you to find new ways of doing things and we want to know what you think are the most important services to save.

There will also be the usual budget consultation later in the autumn – keep an eye on this blog for more information.