This is Bristol -- BRISTOL mayor George Ferguson has used a £4.4million windfall to save several key council services from being axed. He has reinstated or changed nearly 20 cuts he hopes will "take the heat out" of budget proposals which aimed to save nearly £90 million during the next three years. Some of the headline issues include: + keeping supervisory staff at Hengrove Play Area - campaigners said the loss of staff would lead to its eventual closure; + public toilets: 22 of 23 loos in the city were earmarked for closure but this cut will no longer go ahead. However, there will be a review to see how toilets can be provided more efficiently. + Blaise Castle Museum, The Red Lodge in Park Row; The Georgian House in Great George Street and the Roman Villa in Lawrence Weston are no longer in danger of being mothballed. But the council still hopes they will eventually become self-financing. + community transport: this cut of £410,000 is no longer going ahead but again, a review will continue. + St Paul's Learning Centre: this is saved but the local community will be consulted to explore alternative ways of providing the service. + A string of services affecting the elderly have been reinstated - these proposed cuts had caused most concern in the consultation exercise which the council mounted on the budget proposals. The consultation led to nearly 4,000 responses, 12 times as many as last year and probably more than the council has ever received in the past. Mr Ferguson said: "Some people like to caricature me as stubborn and unlistening. Goodness knows why they have got that impression, but the fact is that we have had a tremendously successful consultation with the public and I take my hat off to the team that organised it. "I have led from the front in making myself available and attending meetings and the media have played an important part, too. "The result has been thousands of responses, instead of a few hundred, and by acting on them in a clear manner, I am hoping it will encourage even more people to respond next year." Mr Ferguson has also set up three key areas of investment. One of them is £400,000 as a contribution towards a Living Wage policy, Labour's biggest election promise last year and the major plank of party candidate Marvin Rees' mayoral campaign. Mr Ferguson said talks were still in progress with the unions over a Living Wage, which would give the lowest-paid council workers more than the minimum wage, but in the meantime he was setting up the fund to kickstart the policy as soon as possible. Another fund of £500,000 is being set up to protect parks and play in the city. Mr Ferguson has hinted that some of this money would be used to protect the Felix Road Adventure Play Area, which faces an uncertain future without council support. The third new fund is £250,000 for hardship payments for council tenants who fall into arrears as a result of the bedroom tax. Mr Ferguson has said in council meetings that he can no longer sustain a promise not to evict council tax tenants as a result of the controversial tax, which was introduced in April, but he believes that a hardship fund would target money to those who most needed it. The council tax will go up by 1.95 per cent, which will mean an extra 50p a week for an average council tax payer. Mr Ferguson said: "I hope these proposals take not just the public heat out of the budget but also the political heat and we get a sensible budget resolution on February 18." That is the date when councillors decide whether to approve the mayor's proposals. He only needs a simple majority (50 per cent plus one vote) and also has the power to call a second budget meeting, where he could only need one-third support.
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This is Bristol -- BRISTOL mayor George Ferguson has used a £4.4million windfall to save several key council services from being axed. He has reinstated or changed nearly 20 cuts he hopes will "take the heat out" of budget proposals which aimed to save nearly £90 million during the next three years. Some of the headline issues include: + keeping supervisory staff at Hengrove Play Area - campaigners said the loss of staff would lead to its eventual closure; + public toilets: 22 of 23 loos in the city were earmarked for closure but this cut will no longer go ahead. However, there will be a review to see how toilets can be provided more efficiently. + Blaise Castle Museum, The Red Lodge in Park Row; The Georgian House in Great George Street and the Roman Villa in Lawrence Weston are no longer in danger of being mothballed. But the council still hopes they will eventually become self-financing. + community transport: this cut of £410,000 is no longer going ahead but again, a review will continue. + St Paul's Learning Centre: this is saved but the local community will be consulted to explore alternative ways of providing the service. + A string of services affecting the elderly have been reinstated - these proposed cuts had caused most concern in the consultation exercise which the council mounted on the budget proposals. The consultation led to nearly 4,000 responses, 12 times as many as last year and probably more than the council has ever received in the past. Mr Ferguson said: "Some people like to caricature me as stubborn and unlistening. Goodness knows why they have got that impression, but the fact is that we have had a tremendously successful consultation with the public and I take my hat off to the team that organised it. "I have led from the front in making myself available and attending meetings and the media have played an important part, too. "The result has been thousands of responses, instead of a few hundred, and by acting on them in a clear manner, I am hoping it will encourage even more people to respond next year." Mr Ferguson has also set up three key areas of investment. One of them is £400,000 as a contribution towards a Living Wage policy, Labour's biggest election promise last year and the major plank of party candidate Marvin Rees' mayoral campaign. Mr Ferguson said talks were still in progress with the unions over a Living Wage, which would give the lowest-paid council workers more than the minimum wage, but in the meantime he was setting up the fund to kickstart the policy as soon as possible. Another fund of £500,000 is being set up to protect parks and play in the city. Mr Ferguson has hinted that some of this money would be used to protect the Felix Road Adventure Play Area, which faces an uncertain future without council support. The third new fund is £250,000 for hardship payments for council tenants who fall into arrears as a result of the bedroom tax. Mr Ferguson has said in council meetings that he can no longer sustain a promise not to evict council tax tenants as a result of the controversial tax, which was introduced in April, but he believes that a hardship fund would target money to those who most needed it. The council tax will go up by 1.95 per cent, which will mean an extra 50p a week for an average council tax payer. Mr Ferguson said: "I hope these proposals take not just the public heat out of the budget but also the political heat and we get a sensible budget resolution on February 18." That is the date when councillors decide whether to approve the mayor's proposals. He only needs a simple majority (50 per cent plus one vote) and also has the power to call a second budget meeting, where he could only need one-third support.
Reported by This is 2 hours ago.