Skip to main content area
Keyboard Shortcuts |
Home |
A-Z |
News |
Jobs |
Councillors |
Contact Us |
Sitemap |
Help |
FAQs |
Online Forms |
Compliments and Complaints |
Main Content Area
Herefordshire Council has embarked on its most ambitious consultation campaign yet and is giving all those with an interest in the Council an opportunity to have a say.
The authority faces a number of major challenges and is seeking help from Herefordshire’s residents to help it make the right choices.
The authority is seeking to save around £5 million by becoming more efficient in a bid to keep Council Tax levels down and in the face of inadequate Central Government funding for rural areas.
“We want to keep Council Tax at a level that doesn’t overburden County residents – we recognise that there are many people on low or fixed incomes – which is why we’re looking to make efficiency savings,” said Cllr Roger Phillips, Leader of Herefordshire Council.
“We all know that Herefordshire is a great place to live and work and we’re committed to keeping it that way.
“Our schools perform better than most; we’ve seen huge improvements in the way we look after our older people; we’re a top performer when it comes to dealing with household waste,” he added.
“But we’re facing challenges on a scale we’ve not faced before.
“The number of people aged over 80 in the County is increasing faster here than in most other parts of the country, new legislation requires even higher standards of service from the Council and the Government expects future Council Tax increases to be in low, single figures.
“We’re providing services in a very rural area, which is more expensive than providing the same services in an urban area, yet Government doesn’t acknowledge this extra cost – which is why we were capped this year, despite us being one of the lowest spending unitary Councils in England.
“We’re also losing out because the Government insists on using out-of-date population figures. Because the figures they use to calculate how much money we get from them each year are based on the population of 1991, we’re losing out to the tune of around £1.8 million a year.
“Unless we become better at selecting which services we provide and become more efficient in the delivery of these services, we’re going to face a £4 to 5 million gap in our finances.
“To avoid this, our drive to provide services more efficiently has already moved up a gear – we believe that by looking at the way we provide services and eliminating waste and unnecessary bureaucracy we can save around £2 million next year, and more in future years.”
“But even when we’ve done that, difficult choices must be made about which services should be improved and which should be reduced to pay for the improvements.
more follows
“Our top priorities so far have been to enable schools to keep on improving their performance and to protect the most vulnerable people in the County. Continuing to do this will require savings in other services.
“We shall have to look closely at which services we provide and how these services can be improved or trimmed back – but to do this we need to hear what the people of Herefordshire say to help us make the right choices.”
As a result, the Council is embarking on a comprehensive consultation campaign between now and November with a number of elements to make sure it hears the voice of the people.
These include….
· A special representative survey of 500 households across the county
· A questionnaire to be sent to the 1,000 members of the citizens’ panel, Herefordshire Voice
· An easy to complete questionnaire on the Council’s website, www.herefordshire.gov.uk (to go live later in October)
· Opportunities to have a say at special meetings of the Council’s Local Area Forum meetings during November
· A questionnaire in the local media
· Questionnaires available at libraries and Info shops
The results from the different strands of consultation will be brought together and formally considered by Cabinet when it meets in December to consider its plan for the coming years.
Following the December meeting the practicalities will be worked on prior to Cabinet approving its annual operating plan – which will include budgets – in February next year, when Cabinet will also decide Council Tax levels for 2005/6.
“It’s the Council’s responsibility to make the final, difficult, decisions. But we can’t do this without hearing what people want.
“This is a crucial period in the Council’s short history, but we’re determined to come out of this exercise as a more efficient and effective organisation.
“If you want to have a voice, now’s your chance.”
IT'S YOUR SHOUT
Herefordshire Council has embarked on its most ambitious consultation campaign yet and is giving all those with an interest in the Council an opportunity to have a say.
The authority faces a number of major challenges and is seeking help from Herefordshire’s residents to help it make the right choices.
The authority is seeking to save around £5 million by becoming more efficient in a bid to keep Council Tax levels down and in the face of inadequate Central Government funding for rural areas.
“We want to keep Council Tax at a level that doesn’t overburden County residents – we recognise that there are many people on low or fixed incomes – which is why we’re looking to make efficiency savings,” said Cllr Roger Phillips, Leader of Herefordshire Council.
“We all know that Herefordshire is a great place to live and work and we’re committed to keeping it that way.
“Our schools perform better than most; we’ve seen huge improvements in the way we look after our older people; we’re a top performer when it comes to dealing with household waste,” he added.
“But we’re facing challenges on a scale we’ve not faced before.
“The number of people aged over 80 in the County is increasing faster here than in most other parts of the country, new legislation requires even higher standards of service from the Council and the Government expects future Council Tax increases to be in low, single figures.
“We’re providing services in a very rural area, which is more expensive than providing the same services in an urban area, yet Government doesn’t acknowledge this extra cost – which is why we were capped this year, despite us being one of the lowest spending unitary Councils in England.
“We’re also losing out because the Government insists on using out-of-date population figures. Because the figures they use to calculate how much money we get from them each year are based on the population of 1991, we’re losing out to the tune of around £1.8 million a year.
“Unless we become better at selecting which services we provide and become more efficient in the delivery of these services, we’re going to face a £4 to 5 million gap in our finances.
“To avoid this, our drive to provide services more efficiently has already moved up a gear – we believe that by looking at the way we provide services and eliminating waste and unnecessary bureaucracy we can save around £2 million next year, and more in future years.”
“But even when we’ve done that, difficult choices must be made about which services should be improved and which should be reduced to pay for the improvements.
more follows
“Our top priorities so far have been to enable schools to keep on improving their performance and to protect the most vulnerable people in the County. Continuing to do this will require savings in other services.
“We shall have to look closely at which services we provide and how these services can be improved or trimmed back – but to do this we need to hear what the people of Herefordshire say to help us make the right choices.”
As a result, the Council is embarking on a comprehensive consultation campaign between now and November with a number of elements to make sure it hears the voice of the people.
These include….
· A special representative survey of 500 households across the county
· A questionnaire to be sent to the 1,000 members of the citizens’ panel, Herefordshire Voice
· An easy to complete questionnaire on the Council’s website, www.herefordshire.gov.uk (to go live later in October)
· Opportunities to have a say at special meetings of the Council’s Local Area Forum meetings during November
· A questionnaire in the local media
· Questionnaires available at libraries and Info shops
The results from the different strands of consultation will be brought together and formally considered by Cabinet when it meets in December to consider its plan for the coming years.
Following the December meeting the practicalities will be worked on prior to Cabinet approving its annual operating plan – which will include budgets – in February next year, when Cabinet will also decide Council Tax levels for 2005/6.
“It’s the Council’s responsibility to make the final, difficult, decisions. But we can’t do this without hearing what people want.
“This is a crucial period in the Council’s short history, but we’re determined to come out of this exercise as a more efficient and effective organisation.
“If you want to have a voice, now’s your chance.”
