Local campaigners the Womens Internation Group (WIG) are to hold a public meeting to discuss the city council’s budget crisis. The event will take place in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre tomorrow (Tuesday 9 December) at 6.30pm. All welcome.
Council Cancels Christmas flyers 4
Full details of the event will follow when we have them, but here’s some background to where we are and why the local meeting has been called:
Last week public spending watchdog the Accounts Commission expressed concern over Edinburgh’s budget control – the city council must find savings of of £138m by 2017.
The Accounts Commission said Edinburgh needs to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing its staff – and on Friday it was revealed that city councillors are to discuss radical new proposals for service provision at Thursday’s full council meeting.
The council’s last major internal reorganisation in the 2000s saw the creation of ‘super departments’ – Education and Social Work were merged to become Children and Families, while roads and pavements, environmental services, housing, refuse collection and trading standards all became part of the remit of a huge new Services for Communities department.
As well as delivering a ‘joined-up’ approach, those new structures were introduced to devolve more power and decision-making to front-line staff to address new community planning arrangements.
Now, following a comprehensive review and facing severe budget pressure, Chief Executive Sue Bruce has produced a new blueprint to restructure the Council’s operations and it’s thought that hundreds of middle manager posts could be under threat as part of the proposed reorganisation.
Councillors will debate the proposals on Thursday before they go out to consultation with unions – the council currently operates a policy of no compulsory redundancies.
Council Leader Councillor Andrew Burns said: “It’s essential that we transform how we deliver council services to an ever growing number of residents, focusing more on their priorities while addressing the significant financial challenges we face.
“A further report from the Chief Executive makes the case for delivering services through four ‘localities’, or neighbourhoods, giving front-line staff the ability to make decisions more suited to the local community and their particular needs. It also outlines a proposal for creating a ‘Business and Customer Services’ corporate centre which would provide the necessary guidance and support.
“Councillors will be asked to select one from three models outlined in the report, following which consultation with staff, Trades Unions and relevant partners will begin.”
Councillor Burns also urged citizens to have their say on Edinburgh’s budget. He said: “Over the past two months, we’ve been inviting views on how we invest and save money. The consultation has attracted significant attention, with over 1,400 people completing our budget planner online, and a further 300 submitting comments by post and email. This is already more than four times the number of responses we received last year.
“Last week, attention turned to our Question Time event, giving members of the public the opportunity to quiz our panel of senior councillors on the budget proposals that mattered to them. It was a lively debate with the Chair, Evening News editor Frank O’Donnell, taking contributions from the floor and from those watching at home. Archive footage of the event is available to view on our website.
“Please take the time to have your say on the proposals, if you haven’t already. The consultation period runs until 19 December, and we will consider all feedback prior to setting the final 2015/16 Budget in February.”
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