Where would you cut £2 million from Gloucester City Council budget?

“stop employing expensive consultants for silly subjects
stop handing out thousands to parish councils to donate as they want,
no more free bus travel to means tested pensioners
stop paying for taxis sending gypsy kids to and from school, (how many know this)
half the size of the librarys
cut out expenses and day trips for councillors.
increase planning applications cost,particularly building plots they sell over 100k
lower the ceilings and insulate older council buildings ,schools ,library, chambers etc
stop cold weather payments for means tested people,
stop all payments to ex pats overseas, they receive cold weather payments still if they live in spain.
cut down on police patrol cars driving around, doing nothing, buy cycles
half the weekday car parking in town encourg in towns.
take out silly speed ramps and introduce 20 mph limit in built up areas, enforce by police on foot, not cars
increase size of Wednesday market site on Hempstead bypass ,introduce park and ride.
stop giving grants to fleece hotel etc
THIS SHOULD SAVE SOME MONEY TO START”

“Many suggestions about ceasing to use external consultants - yes will save money, but more would be saved if the idle and sometimes ignorant regime that engaged them actually understood or acted upon the outcome. The professional world of consultancy and civil service dont mix well, often ending in the realisation that the CC dont really want change. Perhaps the CC should make public the benefits their employees receive, such as free parking and extra days off - so that we can make an informed decision of what should go.....”

“How about stopping providing information in FOREIGN languages? If they want to claim any benefits in the UK then they should be able to speak the language!

Come on TiG do the old freedom of information request to find the cost of that one!
This was back in 2009 in the Torygraph - http://tinyurl.com/ap4emxx

Other organisations such as Gloucester City Homes also provide their leaflets in different languages, what a waste of money!”

“Sack half the bosses.
Don't think going to a Unitary Authority would help.Cornwall is now a Unitary Authority. Council tax payers were told it would save millions every year. When it was found to cost more to run tax payers were told that wasn't the idea of it. Blowed if I know what it was, then!”

“AND of course cut the wages of these civil servants, their pensions etc that we pay for. Business owners struggling to get by, yet having to pay holiday pay etc for their staff and have no pension at all for themselves and are paying for those who are overpaid anyway.

Maybe the staff in the council offices can use tapwater instead of those nice big bottle deliveries and coolers.”

“Disabled badges should not mean free parking where they like, when they like for however long they like.

There are many disabled badge holders driving Mercedes and luxury cars, these can be seen outside Debenhams/Co-op bank in Gloucester for an example.

They should still have to pay for parking like the rest of us, it is taking the pee. I thought the idea of disabled badges was to allow people to park where they needed to due to mobility problems. They like bus passes should be means tested.

There are people with luxury cars at home, get a free bus pass, and we have to pay more because they "fancy themselves a ride on a bus" while at the same time screaming they are as good as someone in their 20s.

This would save a lot of money and be fairer to the rest of us who MUST pay.”

“Some very good points made.
But not one of you have asked the Big question " How much of our money is held in the bank "
under the name of G. C.C.”

“Certainly there should be more sharing of services with other local authorities. Say, for example, Stroud DC run the car parks, Gloucester CC run the on road parking, Cheltenham run bus passes &c. I'm sure there could be rationalisations combining departments and best practice etc.

Maybe sell off GL1 and Guildhall to raise some cash and generate some interest income. Oft times private companies can and do attract more to such venues.”

“Unitary authorities only work for large urban areas. I've never understood how people think that a unitary authority would work for Gloucester. You'd still need there to be district councils for the more rural parts of the county, and a county council on top of that. Or are you saying that all of Gloucestershire, including the bits out in the sticks, can be governed adequately from Shire Hall? Or are you saying that there should be more town or parish councils who should do the day-to-day running of services?”

“Sarah Churchill is right. I too worked in the public sector and can confirm there is a lot of waste in-house. Too much hierarchy and not enough money being spent on the front line. Quedgeley Guy has the right idea too. No more outside consultants. The Council hire them and then never take any notice of what is suggested. No councillors to be paid. If they want to support the city then they can do it as a voluntary job like the parish councillors. No awaydays on expenses. No moving offices unless absolutely necessary. (I moved 5 times in 8 years) and was told at one move that it was at "no cost". How can anything be "no cost"? My working time must be costing something!
I could go on .............”