Bob Howarth: “Bolton Update january 2002”?

This is the text of the talk by Boton Council Leader, Bob Howarth, taken directly from the Deane-Cum-Heaton Labour Party's Branch minutes.

Bolton Council Leader and Branch member, Bob Howarth, was warmly welcomed to the meeting.

  Update

Bob said that there had been agreement in principle to the budget. The Council is proposing a 5% Council Tax increase and there will be some "redirections" of resources. The settlement from the Government was one of the best we have had. Although we did well in the Standard Spending Assessment it still riles that the London Boroughs do very much better. He hoped that the Government would address this in 2003/4 and ours was one of the better non-London settlements.

Our budget will increase from £260 million to £270 million but, despite this, there will still be the need to make some expenditure reductions of the order of £2 million, although short of real cuts in services. Our current reserves amount to £4.5 million - the minimum allowed by the District Auditor.

Education is the largest spending department of the Council and there are special funds amounting to as much as £20 million coming into the Borough, but all of this is targeted. Although there are teacher shortages in the Borough for some subjects the situation is nowhere near as bad as in some parts of the country, especially London.

£3.4 million, to be spent in three years, has been targeted to improving educational sports facilities, there will be £11½ for neighbourhood renewal and £3 million of Sure Start money. Several millions of European funding is also available but this has to be matched by the Authority and it will be for specific purposes.

Bob said that the Authority has a good relationship with the three Bolton MPs and together they are doing their utmost in the fight to save Bolton Magistrates' Court from closure.

Overall the effects of what we are doing will result in total year on year increases for each of the main Council activities as follows:

  Corporate Resources 3.5%
  Culture 6.3%
  Education 6.3%
  Environment 7.8%
  Housing 9.3%
  Social Services 4.3%

However, there are concerns that the probably 5% increase in Council Tax is almost twice the rate of inflation. Bob pointed out that 85% of properties in the borough are in Council Tax bands A, B and C with 55% in band A.

Bob next spoke about the recent problems with snow and ice clearing and bin emptying, resulting from the very cold weather. The main problem with snow clearing is actually getting enough staff to do the work. Immediately after the snowfall not all of the 10 snow clearing vehicles were operating and some workers were putting in 16-hour days. The Director of Services has admitted that the situation had not been satisfactory and had lead to problems with bin emptying. The Scrutinising Committee for Environmental Services will be looking into the problems that occurred.

The whole of the west side of the Town Hall is being reorganised and a "One Stop Shop", where people can walk in and get their problems sorted out, will be created.

In response to a question about Fairtrade, Bob said that all Directors of the Authority have been had been circulated and asked to respond on moves to initiate the use of Fairtrade products. The Fairtrade initiative has complete Group and Council support.

Leilia said that it's good to read that the economy is doing well and that a considerable amount of money is coming to Bolton. However, she said, "Why do I feel that the quality of life in the Bolton is declining? The Wigan/Bolton Health Authority has amongst the lowest funding in the country and levels of criminality are increasing." Jean added that she supports Bolton, is proud of what has been achieved and wants to see further improvements. There is a terrible litter problem, though.

There was discussion of the changes in the Council structure and it was thought that this has had its good as well as some bad points. There was felt to be a danger in concentrating the work in the hands of the Portfolio Holders and The Leader. However, Bob said that Backbenchers and even the Opposition do get involved. He believed that the Borough has a good raft of Senior Officers and Directors.

There was further discussion of a number of topics.

The Chair thanked Bob for his talk, members for participating in the discussion and Pauline for the use of her home and her hospitality. The meeting was declared closed at 9:35 pm.

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