Cash-hit council's "fundamental look" at services (From Thurrock Gazette)

Cash-hit council's "fundamental look" at services

8:00am Thursday 20th December 2012 in News

CONCERNS have been raised that Thurrock Council may have to take a “fundamental look” at its role within the community and the services it delivers.

Members of the council’s cabinet said last week they are worried that “never ending” and “ever increasing” cuts to Government funding are sending the council to “tipping point”.

This comes after leader Cllr John Kent announced at the meeting that following the Chancellor’s autumn statement, the council could receive £13million less from the Government in the next four years.

This means additional savings will have to be found and deeper cuts to services made, despite a planned council tax hike of 2 per cent.

Cllr Kent said: “These are the cuts in grant we’re expecting.

“They don’t take into account things such as inflation, or the increasing numbers of vulnerable children or elderly people in our communities in need of support.

“Nor does it take into account Thurrock’s increasing population or ageing school and health buildings.

“We’ve always expected cuts, but it seems at the moment to be never ending and ever increasing.

“We’ve identified many possible savings and efficiency options, but as things currently stand we’re looking at a budget gap of around £6.5million in 2014/15 and nearly £13million in 2015/16.

“It’s getting to the point where if every cloud has a silver lining, it would be better if Thurrock’s was literal rather than metaphorical.”

Deputy council leader Cllr Val Morris-Cook added: “There’s nothing wrong with looking at efficiencies, but there does come a tipping point where you can no longer deliver services you need to.

“We’re getting close to the point where we have to fundamentally look at what the council delivers as a service.”

Comments(19)

ThurrockResident says...
8:55am Thu 20 Dec 12

The Tories won't be satisfied until we have cardboard cities as in London. Elderly people will die as the cannot afford heating. Remember this time and vote them out.

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coddy says...
11:46am Thu 20 Dec 12

I totally agree with ThurrockResident here.The Tories will blame labour but they cannot keep cutting services. Especially as they've done nothing about a mansion tax and making their rich mates pay the right taxes I.E. the Barclay brothers. But the local tory boys and girls will be livid that their getting a slagging.

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ebagumtrebor says...
2:43pm Thu 20 Dec 12

A measured response from the socialists. Firstly the council are responsible for social housing and have recently decided to become self financing so funding of social housing in Thurrock is nothing to do with central government. Under the last Labour government next to no new social housing was built in Thurrock. So if we end up with cardboard cities blame the Labour run council and their failure to run the housing service properly, the reason why they overspent by £1.9 million last year.

The energy companies set their own rates and as far as I’m aware the state pension and winter fuel payments have been untouched for poorer people. They have not been cut. So presumably the socialists want the government to renationalise the energy companies and subsidise all energy just like we now subsidise low paid jobs to the tune of about £25 billion a year. The socialists like a good nationalisation and subsidies for all.

With regard to taxation, let’s tax all lottery winners, millionaires and anyone that earns more than £50,000 per year at 80% of their earnings. We can’t have all these people making money while there are perfectly able bodied people struggling to get enough money together to go to the pub all day, buy their ciggies, and upgrade their mobile phones on a regular basis while the taxpayer once again funds them for the lot.

So let’s sum up the socialist position. Drive out anyone that strives to earn a living and be successful. Nationalise all utility companies. Cap all wealth earning and let nobody be better off than the next person. Subsidise anything from food to jobs to energy. Make all housing free or subsidised.

They can do all this because they have a printing press called the treasury so if they run out of money they’ll just print some more. Problem solved. Those Tories must be really evil not to have done this before just like the last Labour government did. Get Labour back in I say. We’ll all be sitting at home in our subsidised housing with our subsidised food and heating all paid for with state handouts. Perhaps they can subsidise fags and booze as well.

A measured response from the socialists. Firstly the council are responsible for social housing and have recently decided to become self financing so funding of social housing in Thurrock is nothing to do with central government. Under the last Labour government next to no new social housing was built in Thurrock. So if we end up with cardboard cities blame the Labour run council and their failure to run the housing service properly, the reason why they overspent by £1.9 million last year. The energy companies set their own rates and as far as I’m aware the state pension and winter fuel payments have been untouched for poorer people. They have not been cut. So presumably the socialists want the government to renationalise the energy companies and subsidise all energy just like we now subsidise low paid jobs to the tune of about £25 billion a year. The socialists like a good nationalisation and subsidies for all. With regard to taxation, let’s tax all lottery winners, millionaires and anyone that earns more than £50,000 per year at 80% of their earnings. We can’t have all these people making money while there are perfectly able bodied people struggling to get enough money together to go to the pub all day, buy their ciggies, and upgrade their mobile phones on a regular basis while the taxpayer once again funds them for the lot. So let’s sum up the socialist position. Drive out anyone that strives to earn a living and be successful. Nationalise all utility companies. Cap all wealth earning and let nobody be better off than the next person. Subsidise anything from food to jobs to energy. Make all housing free or subsidised. They can do all this because they have a printing press called the treasury so if they run out of money they’ll just print some more. Problem solved. Those Tories must be really evil not to have done this before just like the last Labour government did. Get Labour back in I say. We’ll all be sitting at home in our subsidised housing with our subsidised food and heating all paid for with state handouts. Perhaps they can subsidise fags and booze as well. ebagumtrebor

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crazycal says...
3:58pm Thu 20 Dec 12

I suppose the Elderly and Disabled will be targetted with any cost-cutting exercise by Thurrock Council as usual... ! They should take a look at their top bods' salaries for all to see on Thurrock Council Website !! What a joke....!

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ThurrockResident says...
4:02pm Thu 20 Dec 12

To ebagumtrebor Yes us unemployed people are really living it up on our £72 a week. I have bought several mobile phones and flat screen TV's , not to mention the fags and booze. He obviously has no grasp of the real world and believes all he reads in the Daily Mail!
To crazycal, the vulnerable will be targetted due to central government withdrawing grant.

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Thurrock Trojan says...
10:00pm Thu 20 Dec 12

ebagumtrebor wrote:
A measured response from the socialists. Firstly the council are responsible for social housing and have recently decided to become self financing so funding of social housing in Thurrock is nothing to do with central government. Under the last Labour government next to no new social housing was built in Thurrock. So if we end up with cardboard cities blame the Labour run council and their failure to run the housing service properly, the reason why they overspent by £1.9 million last year.

The energy companies set their own rates and as far as I’m aware the state pension and winter fuel payments have been untouched for poorer people. They have not been cut. So presumably the socialists want the government to renationalise the energy companies and subsidise all energy just like we now subsidise low paid jobs to the tune of about £25 billion a year. The socialists like a good nationalisation and subsidies for all.

With regard to taxation, let’s tax all lottery winners, millionaires and anyone that earns more than £50,000 per year at 80% of their earnings. We can’t have all these people making money while there are perfectly able bodied people struggling to get enough money together to go to the pub all day, buy their ciggies, and upgrade their mobile phones on a regular basis while the taxpayer once again funds them for the lot.

So let’s sum up the socialist position. Drive out anyone that strives to earn a living and be successful. Nationalise all utility companies. Cap all wealth earning and let nobody be better off than the next person. Subsidise anything from food to jobs to energy. Make all housing free or subsidised.

They can do all this because they have a printing press called the treasury so if they run out of money they’ll just print some more. Problem solved. Those Tories must be really evil not to have done this before just like the last Labour government did. Get Labour back in I say. We’ll all be sitting at home in our subsidised housing with our subsidised food and heating all paid for with state handouts. Perhaps they can subsidise fags and booze as well.

Let me guess: You live in North Stifford or Orsett?

[quote][p][bold]ebagumtrebor[/bold] wrote: A measured response from the socialists. Firstly the council are responsible for social housing and have recently decided to become self financing so funding of social housing in Thurrock is nothing to do with central government. Under the last Labour government next to no new social housing was built in Thurrock. So if we end up with cardboard cities blame the Labour run council and their failure to run the housing service properly, the reason why they overspent by £1.9 million last year. The energy companies set their own rates and as far as I’m aware the state pension and winter fuel payments have been untouched for poorer people. They have not been cut. So presumably the socialists want the government to renationalise the energy companies and subsidise all energy just like we now subsidise low paid jobs to the tune of about £25 billion a year. The socialists like a good nationalisation and subsidies for all. With regard to taxation, let’s tax all lottery winners, millionaires and anyone that earns more than £50,000 per year at 80% of their earnings. We can’t have all these people making money while there are perfectly able bodied people struggling to get enough money together to go to the pub all day, buy their ciggies, and upgrade their mobile phones on a regular basis while the taxpayer once again funds them for the lot. So let’s sum up the socialist position. Drive out anyone that strives to earn a living and be successful. Nationalise all utility companies. Cap all wealth earning and let nobody be better off than the next person. Subsidise anything from food to jobs to energy. Make all housing free or subsidised. They can do all this because they have a printing press called the treasury so if they run out of money they’ll just print some more. Problem solved. Those Tories must be really evil not to have done this before just like the last Labour government did. Get Labour back in I say. We’ll all be sitting at home in our subsidised housing with our subsidised food and heating all paid for with state handouts. Perhaps they can subsidise fags and booze as well.[/p][/quote]Let me guess: You live in North Stifford or Orsett? Thurrock Trojan

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d_2da_ougle says...
11:18pm Thu 20 Dec 12

no fixed term tennancy glad aswell i may work 2 jobs 50 hours a week im glad i have a council house and work hard fr it aswell, why should i give up my place just cos im on 22k a year and they think i can afford to privately rent when they will go and give it to some africian or pregnant single mum, thats already taking me tax money i say well done thurrock council on that decision

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ebagumtrebor says...
5:25am Fri 21 Dec 12

Dole money hasn't been cut; pensions haven't been cut; winter fuel allowance hasn't been cut for the poorest; council house rent is still subsidised; mortgages for the unemployed are still paid. So what's been cut that directly affects the lives of individuals on benefits. If the Labour party hadn't expanded the welfare state by 120% over the last 10 years we wouldn't be in this position. So when you start moaning about not having enough benefits, try thinking about the fact that the welfare state now costs this country about £120 billion a year whereas 10 years ago it was less than half that cost. So someones spending it and it isn't me.

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Thurrock Trojan says...
7:48am Fri 21 Dec 12

ThurrockResident wrote:
To ebagumtrebor Yes us unemployed people are really living it up on our £72 a week. I have bought several mobile phones and flat screen TV's , not to mention the fags and booze. He obviously has no grasp of the real world and believes all he reads in the Daily Mail! To crazycal, the vulnerable will be targetted due to central government withdrawing grant.

It must be Jackie Doyle-Price; who else would be so full of that anti-Labour idiocy?

That's all this useless, rotten, out-of-touch government is fit for: Blaming everything on the last Labour government. That's when they're not blaming the Eurozone!

Tripe-dip recession, anyone?

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jb411 says...
2:51pm Fri 21 Dec 12

How about raking in some of the council tax that people owe £3m at the last count and maybe reducing some of the councillors' expense accounts and cutting back on the hotel expenses and dining out expenses?

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The Hog says...
11:12pm Fri 21 Dec 12

some people really have to stop the blame game,it makes you look like a Daily Mail reader. the facts are easy to find and look-up. All government papers are published and all government meetings,the minuets are published.. So instead of the blame game,lets play find the truth/facts..with in work benefits being cut,the government how now made being on benefits pay more than working(DWP's own figures). More tax payers money is wasted through DWP incompetence than fraud. Don't have a comment war. Spend the time looking at the governments own facts.

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ebagumtrebor says...
9:05am Sat 22 Dec 12

We never used to subisdise jobs at all. That's a fact. So why do we need to do it now. Why did it become necessary under the last Labour government to subsidise low paid work. Could it be because the Labour party knew that was exactly where they were taking this country. They set the benchmark and they made it so easy for employers to apply that benchmark by providing businesses with millions of low skilled workers. That's a real mark of the party built by the working class people of this country. Traitors to the people that allow their party to survive.

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Thurrock Trojan says...
3:20pm Sat 22 Dec 12

It's easy for this rotten, out of touch government to blame everything on its predecessor.

Working Tax Credit was introduced under the last Labour government to help boost the wages for low-paid workers. This, in my opinion, was a good thing.

Unemployment fell below one million under the last Labour government and the economy was still growing when they exited in May 2010. Now look at the mess we're in which has been caused by an incompetent Chancellor.

Anyone who gives George Osborne and this government a shred of integrity needs their head tested.

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terry2010 says...
4:40pm Sat 22 Dec 12

This coucil is bleating about having to make cuts to sevices, however with the amount of EXTRA people who are now CRAMMED into the borough, and I assume at least some of them are working and paying Council tax, there should be more money than enough to pay for everything and to IMPROVE services.
There must be a lot of WASTE or BACKHANDERS (sorry expenses) being paid out.
I am now retired and because I looked after myself and saved, I am not entitled to ANY BENEFITS, apart from the pension, which I have paid into all my working life , and I have had only 3 days out of work in 50 years.

I used to love being in Thurrock, with the open land and good neighbours, but now, I am seriously considering moving, and are currently spending time in different locations (holidays) before I decide where to settle.

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ThurrockResident says...
4:44pm Sat 22 Dec 12

terry2010, get ready for the new Tory road toll tax then if you are travelling by road!

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A Dermot says...
10:09pm Sat 22 Dec 12

Thurrock Trojan wrote:
It's easy for this rotten, out of touch government to blame everything on its predecessor.

Working Tax Credit was introduced under the last Labour government to help boost the wages for low-paid workers. This, in my opinion, was a good thing.

Unemployment fell below one million under the last Labour government and the economy was still growing when they exited in May 2010. Now look at the mess we're in which has been caused by an incompetent Chancellor.

Anyone who gives George Osborne and this government a shred of integrity needs their head tested.

Family Credit was introduced by Maggie Thatcher in 1986.

It was rebranded Working Families Tax Credit under Labour in 1999 and subsequently replaced by Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits in 2003.

Next year Tax Credits will start to be replaced by Universal Credit.

So subsidising the wages of the lowest paid started under Thatcher.

One good thing abut the minimum wage was millions of low paid had their tax credits slashed due to the increase in their wages.

However because of the increase in people on lower wages because of pay freezes and pay cuts the number of people qualifying for means tested benefits has ballooned.

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ebagumtrebor says...
7:46am Sun 23 Dec 12

Thurrock Trojan, unemployment was not under a million under Labours last spell in government. Also if you take away the £500 billion Labour borrowed in the last 8 years in power, there was no growth either. oney borrowed to fund what you are so proud of, benefits, among other bills. If the Labour government had regulated the banks properly and not allowed them to lend 120% mortgages at 6 times people's incomes, the economy would have collapsed sooner than it did under the last Labour government. Yes it did collapse under the last Labour govenrment. It was their fault. How can anyone be proud of a govenrment that allows it's people to become totally reliant on state handouts to live. The Labour party are a disgrace to the people of this countrry. They have let a generation of children down through their policies of mass immigration and even the Labour party now admit it, at least some of them who have no desire to be in power any more. It sums up Labour supporters when their best hope is to live off benefits for the rest of their lives.

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Bernard 87 says...
4:35pm Mon 24 Dec 12

I agree with jb411. Thats a good way to save money.

Thurrock Trojan needs to refresh their memory. Labour messed up big time so it's not worth trying to defend them. If only Brown held on in 2010 then we'd have the IMF bailing us out right now just like they did in 1979.

"However because of the increase in people on lower wages because of pay freezes and pay cuts"

I would rephrase this....'because of the increase in people on lower wages because of high immigration from the EU and the third world'...

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d_2da_ougle says...
2:40pm Tue 25 Dec 12

i suggest people stop the moaning and the blame game and actually log onto thurrock councils website lets talk scheme and look at the idea put forward some are really good and get voting the only idea i didnt approve of was the lesuire center reduction of funding and 2 others honestly go look

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Cash-hit council's "fundamental look" at services (From Thurrock Gazette)

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