“I work in an organisation that is predominantly funded via local authority. We were told this week to not even raise the question of a unitary authority because this is an option our esteemed leaders will not countenance

thats democracy for you”

“10% of council staff on the sick at any one time. Stop all sick pay. 10% saved, no services lost. They would not mind this as they are not in the job for money, but because they are publicly spirited.”

“Steve from leonard stanley I am warming to the idea of Unitary now that council have decided to sell the North Warehouse in Gloucester. 1 unitary would suffice for the whole county. Ultimately given more services being contracted out should be an overall surplus of office administration accommodating fewer staff and with advent of e-mail and video conferencing less need for outsized meetings. Fewer council members Less managers and less expense. Fair comment and just name it Big-G”

“Surely now is the time to revisit the unitary argument ? What about 1 or at the most 2 unitary authorities for gloucestershire, think about the savings to be gained from losing a) Senior management teams at the districts b) district councillors c) ineffective purchasing and contracting.

Also why not when the NHS is in the process of being reorganised look to combine the oversight and management arrangements ie one Chair/leader one Chief Exec. Further ideas views very welcome”

“Very subtle Mr Hawthorne I don't think by placing libraries along with education and emergency services which makes this very auto suggestive for the public to think we can do without one of the most essential if not important services the council provides. I have been a library member for many years and the staff provide a wonderful service.Have you ever used a library or indeed have any of your colleagues? We if you are not careful are in danger of taking things back to Draconian times. Was it not the dream of Carnegie who set up the library service that books should be available for all and not the chosen few? You and your colleagues are being very shortsighted in thinking that volunteers could run a service they would not have the same level of dedication. This is very much like putting a volunteer on the streets as a policeman. Public service is what it means people who give themselves over to serving the public and not in the interest of making money like the glorious bankers who got us in this mess in the first place and who are still receiving fat bonuses. You cannot put a price on public service Mr Hawthorne and maybe more respect should be shown to those people who are in the front line and have to explain to the general public why their services are being cut within the library service. Of course there are other important council services like where will the funds come from for the councillors expenses? Maybe you and your colleagues should review your expenses for the next four years and take a cut or does dedication not stretch that far when it hits your pockets?.”

“Now we are talking about waste. And just in case you Google waste and get presented with the unrivalled subject of wheelie bins and much talk about recycling kitchen waste and turn out to be further exposed to the NEED and justification for more booklets - let me be clear. I am conversing on the topic of squandering money by trendy officials and staff who spend money exposing us to needless promotion schemes using taxpayers¿ cash to vie for...well...taxpayers¿ cash in order to avoid the sort of necessary cuts that should be implemented. Who¿d have thought that, at a time when frontline services are under threat, our authorities would go and prioritise equality and diversity positions at over £300 per day or yet printing information leaflets in so many languages using twofold quantities of paper and hiring translators. Now before someone jumps on their soapbox and says this is E.U mandatory let me remind that few E.U countries follow that practice. What about the staggering number of costly websites many duplicating resources often with conflicting info. The alarming and unpalatable truth is that that councils police and NHS are spending lots of money endorsing and encouraging us to campaign for more of them with the inevitable laptop whilst failing to realise many of these sectors have no competitors. So that begs the question why trumpet the news they are in business. We consistently know of their existence as we arrange direct debits and send cheques to pay their bills.”

“Why is it every time the councillors decide some drastic measures have to be taken that the public get a say!! is it due to the fact that they can just tell everyone well that's what you wanted!!! so this means we can wash our hands of it all and not be blamed!! I have noticed that the Library service is top of your list of cut backs already with a slash in new book funds and yet surely this is poor vision of the councillors or was that its easier to cut there!!!!!!!!! With the present climate of unsurity about finances don't they realise that most households are aware of this!!! If individuals are about to loose their jobs and tighten their household belts then the Library is where they can go to get not only books but cd's, dvd's, free Internet access. surely it would be better to keep these places open for the general public who have very little income rather than the option of taking yet another service away!!! how about these councillors who seem to get extra money for doing nothing and I mean nothing as you only ever see them when the time is right for an election. It astounds me when I think that the Library service was put there for individuals to go and get free books to read and ya sometimes learn from. Lets get onto the guys who seemed fit to send money out of the country to invest it when in actual fact they could have been investing it in long term assurances that would keep our services well stocked for the future. Oh yes the future wasn't that how our predecessors saw a future for the Libraries? So people of all backgrounds could benefit???????????”

“Reserves can only be used once. Councils need to reduce their revenue costs - the bills they have to pay every year.

It's like if your mortgage went up 30% - you might be able to pay the extra from your savings account for a bit, but pretty soon you'd have no savings left and would still not be able to pay your mortgage.”

“Perhaps the answer is not huge cuts instead,to a certain extent, money can be brought in, such as : increased parking charges, higher fines for crossing the bridge in Quays precinct, charge say two pound per month to use bus passes. These are all things which one can optional choose or not. Other matters such as collect rent arrears, charge for use of Trading standards, have a membership for use of country parks like national trust - a small annual fee. Regarding the rail improvements cancel them until better times.Regeneration no more until all existing premises/work sites are fully utilised and profitable.”

“Local authorities are labour intensive organisations with high fixed payroll cost. Whilst we know one pound in every £5 paid in council tax is used to pay for local authorities' "gold-plated" pension schemes, we are not so similarly informed what proportion of gross total income is paid out on wages and salaries including expenses. Comparable with limited companies who publish information for shareholders in relation to number of management employees earnings in various fiscal bands it might be helpful for the council to publish number of employees earning 45k to 65k : 65k to 85k: 85 to 105k and thereafter the names of those earning sums in excess in equal banding form. Similar practise should be followed in police Fire and NHS. No objection can be raised by unions or individuals on grounds that this information is classified. That is the core information shareholders look to receive and judge performance in any business that is Labour intensive. Also compare annual holiday entitlement paid and unpaid sick days then those financing local authorities can judge comparable private companies in the same area. Special scrutiny is required for all consultancy disbursements”