I have just had a LibDem leaflet through my door and it says that an estimated £100.000 was spent on the Gypsy and Traveller strategy at South Norfolk Council!! We did wonder how much all that cost us, paid from our hard earned money in local taxes. Do we get that sort of money spent on us? What about getting our pot-holed roads mended and returning our local recycling centres to being opened properly again!!
The leaflet goes on to say about all the other things the council has wasted our money on, like £20K on their new logo, fighting to become a unitary council, failings with other councils like Breckland and Diss to join up with them and refurbishing the council's foyer. I have added it all the up and it comes to £320.000!!! Maybe they are getting paid just a little too much if they can afford that amount of wastage.
Why didn't South Norfolk council join up with Breckland or Diss councils or become a Unitary council anyway? Local councils should join up and need to be more value for money after all they are cutting back on our services!!
£100,000 or even £320,000 is a drop in the ocean. I heard (in the paper I think) that it cost £2 million. This is much nearer the mark. The biggest expense was the Council workers salaries over about 2 years working on this day in day out. Think of all the policies that had to be written, meetings, cost of external consultants and other nonsense. In these austere times we need value for money. Just remember that the new coalition Government is not forcing Councils to find G&T sites - the fund that is available nationally to help with this problem is miniscule. So, if our Council still pursues this, it's because THEY want to find a site for them and they'll be using our money to do it....What we need is law enforcement when travellers move onto unauthorised sites, not handouts.
£2 million?!!! Thinking about it, £100,000 does sound a bit of an under estimation of what it would have cost taking into consideration things like wages, hiring out venues, expenses for the Working Group etc. In last weeks EDP (15th March) it said that SNDC may still be looking for G&T sites as they have concerns that there are not enough G&T sites in this area. They want Norwich Council to allocate sites which makes more sense as Norwich was identified as an area where G&T's want to live. Having a required quota for G&T sites is a bit out of date now - we have a new Government with new ideas.
As for councils cutting costs, in SNDC's magazine this month, it said that the council is looking to join/merge services with Yarmouth - just have one service which reports to both councils. Looks to me like there will be one Indian and two Chiefs!! I don't see our councils merging in the same way as our services are merging to make the necessary cutbacks!
