Eric Pickles

Ten more jolly super council cash-cutting wheezes

(With apologies to Eric Pickles and Pippa Middleton)

By:
Published March 4, 2013, in Politics


pippa

Birmingham council leader Sir Albert Bore was kind enough in his budget speech to reference my remark that a “50 ways to save money bulletin” put together by Eric Pickles was so simplistic it amounted to ‘Pippa Middleton does local government’.

If the redoubtable Mr Pickles and Ms Middleton did put their heads together to produce ten jolly super cash-cutting wheezes, this is probably what they would come up with:

  1. You’ll have noticed that council chief officers’ offices are very large and usually have comfy armchairs and a sofa. It’s always worth a root around down the back of the furniture for coins and other interesting items. You’d be surprised at what you might find.
  2. Place a large receptacle in each office and label it ‘swear box’. Make a charge of 10p for each soft oath uttered and 50p for those really naughty words. This is a sure-fire money raiser, especially during these difficult times for local government. Take a tip, though: keep the swear box padlocked.
  3. There’s no need to bring a kettle to boil each time a hot drink is required. Switch off as soon as

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Sale of the century revving up for take off

Disposing of city council's Birmingham Airport shares 'not off the agenda' as far as Eric Pickles is concenred

By:
Published February 14, 2013, in Politics


planesBirmingham council leader Sir Albert Bore may be forced to mount a controversial sale of the local authority’s vast portfolio of commercial property and other assets in order to avoid cutting front-line public services.

A recent private meeting of Labour councillors saw Sir Albert on the back foot having to respond to councillors who want to raise millions of pounds by disposing of buildings and shareholdings, specifically in Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre.

He said people were constantly telling him to “wave magic wands” and went on to claim that selling £3.5 billion of council-owned assets would raise “only” £200 million, which wouldn’t be a good deal for Birmingham.

Under existing Government rules, councils selling assets cannot use all of the money to run services. They can only use the interest from investing asset sales money.

If Birmingham sold £3.5 billion worth of property and was able to invest the sum at a six per cent return, the council would gain £210 million a year.

However, one councillor at the meeting said: “In a climate where the leader is talking about the end of local government as we know it and of decommissioning whole tranches of services, there are a lot of people who think

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Free garden waste service axed as city digs in for ‘painful’ £102m cuts plan

Birmingham freezes council tax, slashes children's services by £22m and cuts streets cleaning

By:
Published February 7, 2013, in Politics


wasteCharges for garden waste collection and an end to free refuse sacks were the two surprise elements of an otherwise widely rehearsed £102 million Birmingham City Council cuts package.

City leader Sir Albert Bore spoke of “difficult and painful decisions” taken by the controlling Labour group in response to a 10.5 per cent cut in Government funding for 2013-14.

The Chancellor’s assault on local government finances will reduce the council’s core budget by about 50 per cent between 2011 and 2016, leaving Sir Albert with little option but to slash spending across the board.

About 1,000 council jobs are expected to disappear over the next year on top of 5,500 lost since 2010, effectively trimming the non-schools workforce by a quarter.

The one glimmer of hope

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Council’s austerity black hole ‘heading towards £700m’

Civil service accounting error heaps more misery on Birmingham

By:
Published February 4, 2013, in Politics


councilhouseBirmingham City Council can expect to lose one-third of its annual Government grant in the five-year period 2010-15 as a direct result of the Chancellor’s austerity measures.

The figure is worse than expected and has been recalculated following errors by officials at the Department for Communities and Local Government who mistakenly “double counted” the amount of income local authorities would receive from council tax.

In his 2010-15 Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne originally forecast a 28 per cent cut in grant for councils in England and Wales – an announcement greeted with outrage from town halls across the country.

That figure has now been revised upwards to 33 per cent and will increase even further by 2016-17.

Mr Osborne has made it clear that future local government cuts will be higher still, with a

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The jaws of doom get even wider

City council savings target grows by £25 million

By:
Published January 9, 2013, in Politics


The financial crisis at Birmingham City Council has deepened with the local authority now expecting it will have to make budget cuts of £625 million over a six year period.

Previous estimates for a savings package between 2010-11 and 2016-17 were put at £600 million – half of the core budget – and led council leader Sir Albert Bore to declare “the end of local government as we know it”.

Cllr Bore (Lab Ladywood) insisted today that the projected deficit would grow by a further £25 million,

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