VB are reporting live from the February 2012 full council budget meeting at County Hall.
We will endeavour to report presentations and discussions as accurately as possible. Often comments are paraphrased if not enough time to take full statement. Text surrounded by () signifies VB’s comments.
Please refresh / reload your browser to see the latest updates. [17:02] In the chamber. Full house – no surprise.
Prayers: Pre-prayer talk about meshing of Political and spiritual. Slightly controversial.
Expressions of interest: Cllr Stephens – beach hut Appley. Cllr Welsford – coast guard. Cllr Pugh – wife a staff member of IWC.
Written questions
Q – Amy Baker – To Dawn Cousins. Youth contract. NEETS. Will IWC encourage rolling it out?
Cllr Cousins: Welcome it. £85k allocated already. Island part of phase 4 pilot. Getting £75k for it.
[17.10] Update 1
Q – Anthony Marvin (Ventnor) – When will Ventnor foot paths be reopened?
Cllr Giles – Not specific. As soon as possible. Devil’s Chimney – 26th April. Another path – this summer.
Q – Christine Hoare – Economic improvement fund – which projects benefit?
Cllr Pugh – 87 projects from 30 parish councils. Only four being rejected at this stage. Some parish councils have overbid, asking them to cut back. £200k is hoped to be got through bids. Match funding should bring it to £420k. Visible results over the year, it’s hoped.
Q – Dona Ratcliff – As a governor of local primary schools. Large number of looked-after children a concern. Nationally councils are struggling with this. It appears that IWC is bucking this trend. How are they doing it?
Cllr Cousins – 184 to 163 in care. No simple answer. Good, sound investment by council. Spend of £500k on staff. Extra spend on centres. Managerial leadership. Strong staff. Lots of interest from others.
[17.17] Update 2
Oral questions
Mark Chiverton – Adelaide and Gouldings staff very concerned about stripping away of t+cs.
Cllr Pugh – current financial conditions. Equalising conditions. Trying to put it on an even keel. Overwhelming numbers of staff have signed up for new conditions. Saving we’ve had from this are being included in budgets tonight.
Q – Steve Goodman – PFI. Clarification on spending. £3.8m will be lost from Government. Is it true that we’re spending £13 on the roads? Asking for the current spending on roads be made available.
Cllr Giles – very happy to do that.
Q – Tanya Rebel – Will you this year discuss the best future for this Island?
Cllr Pugh – Last year, very much ideas from across the chamber. Hard this year as only 48hr notice of Indy budget
[17.25] Update 3
Chair – Lady will be 105 tomorrow. Party at The Goldings.
Any objections to leaders being able to speak for over 10 mins, for 15?
Voted through, but Peter Bingham (Cons) voted against Tory lines!!!!
Budget proposals
Cllr Pugh (Conservative)– Budget proposal. Difficult year for council and the Island. Demographic pressures. Some front line services have had reductions – unavoidable. If we didn’t balance budget, we’d have been in trouble.
We did it, but it was a learning process. A flexible approach – libraries, buses, etc
Still issues. Also some success stories. Community didn’t always agree.
Shanklin Library cited as an example of where it’s worked.
Council’s house is now in order, so we can help others. Parishes have done huge amount of work. Disabled people support increasing. Savings – next year and 2013-14
Considerable scrutiny on there.
[17.35] Update 4
Budget simulator. Meeting with Youth council. Professional Association. IWC will take up council tax free – for two years. Parking charges stay the same. Don’t accept council tax grant, unless you can show savings.
Labour and Independent budget have amounts missing. Section 151 officer has warmed against. Not had time to get to the details from Independent leader – not answered.
Shame Indy’s spent so much time on State of the Island Debate, or getting upset about Charlotte’s articles
Looking at Labour budget – we can’t have raid on Pension pot. We are sowing the seeds of future success. Our ideas are really good.
PFI, Waste and superfast broadband need to be done.
[17.45] Update 5
Cllr Lumley (Labour) speaking – 7th successive budget from me. What’s happening here, there is no real difference between many of the people here. Taken the Pickle’s bribe – there will be consequences next year.
We’re reshuffling the chair on the Local Gov Titanic, following banking did us in.
Youth service review – I don’t believe money should be taken from there.
Agency staff needs to be cut back. Raid on pension fund – Pugh says – laughable.
Low paid people don’t enjoy pension benefits. £350k saving I propose.
Waste contract – saw it was going to cost £3m in total. We should have the experience in senior council staff – not have to pay people more money.
Council money is being salted away in a war chest, in readiness of the election next year.
Cllr Stephens (Independent) – presenting now. Timescales aren’t set by me – I just follow the rules. If the leader thinks this should change, he should make plans.
Our proposal is caring and a bit daring. Brought together by Independent members.
Disproves that Independents can’t run a council. We can here and many other councils work in that way. This is all well researched by us with the welcome assistance of officers.
The Island is reliant on tourism – we will fund seven tourism areas. New cycle path.
Mobile composting toilets – as other public toilets have been closed. Placement to be agreed with local councils and walking groups.
Aim for the Island to be self-sufficient for food. Use of public spaces. Help people grow their own food.
Change parking structure. What do local areas need, so work with them – don’t dictate to them. Shopping areas – need support.
£200 resident parking permit, payable in two 6-month instalments. Bring cars off side roads in to car parks. We’re not doing it to make money.
[17.56] Update 6
You’ve got to remember lots of people on the Island don’t have money. Council is currently trying to make too much money out of people’s misery.
Don’t want more redundancies at the council – more efficient working practices.
Tetra pack recycling at supermarkets – deal with West Sussex. Parish and Town councils have picked up a lot of the short fall from IWC. Super Broadband – we haven’t seen any of the data from ruling services.
Been speaking to other councils around the UK – many are spending less, but getting the same.
Superfast broadband is vital for the less well off too. Reinvest in the Libraries. Young people – spend more with them. Fully funded lifeguards around the Island.
£150k to encourage entrepreneurs on the Island. We should be using empty building as incubation of businesses.
Voluntary sector drivers are struggling. We should be helping them.
No compulsory redundancies for Social Workers. 7% reduction in member allowances.
End of budget speeches
[18.06] Update 7
Cllr Barry (LibDem) – We’ve put forward ideas in the past. Current party is like watching a slow motion train wreck. The Tories are just carrying out the wishes of the Conservative government.
Ruling group has torn Geoff’s and Indy budgets over email – I’m glad we didn’t do a budget.
We will support what is best for the Island.
[open debate now]
Cllr Welsford – our proposal is about the love of our Island. I came here 46 years ago. Had a different atmosphere. Now as a councillor, I want to do something for the Island. Work is often difficult to come by here.
Unlike Scottish Isles, we don’t benefit from extra money. There are projects that we need to be spending money on, even if we don’t have much money at the council.
I know what we’ve proposed is workable. You won’t vote for our proposal, but I hope you will working with us over the year.
Cllr Churchman – Appalled at £1m spend on waste contract this year. IESE have a contract available that we can use – should only need to spend £100k. Used by 140 councils currently.
Members were given no options – why? It’s completely wasteful. Very concerned at 25 year contract. It should only be 10 years. If Hampshire can use this framework, why can’t we? Next connect – PFI. We’ve suggested a cut. Travel and subsistence £40k – £50 extra on food. £90k should be in bidders contract not ours.
[18.15] Update 8
Cllr Brown – had prepared serious comments on Indy budget. Will summarise positive – superfast broadband good for biz. No cheaper option if we want gov grant. Solent energy centre – jobs for all including over 50s. Freeing localities for unnecessary. control.
Improvement is key. Curbing dogs can be done cheaper. We’ve been forced £1.3m on new cremators. Are positive proposals from Indy – beach huts, like more details on empty building idea and another.
Cllr Cousins – Isle of Wight has been referred to today in Westminster – children’s centres. (Explaining reasons for spending figures). No reduction of front line spending for children. I would have supported reductions if I’d thought it was going to be bad.
Cllr Giles – aware of framework contracts. Doesn’t negate we need to have a contract for the Island. Might be 25 year contract, it’s undecided. We’ve got to have a robust contract, the current one is loaded for contractor. PFI spend is for our staff to have meetings in London [£1m on meetings!].
Parking permits – not clear how many hours they’d last. They only people buying it will be ones looking to make saving. It’d cost us £130k. Public toilets – Indy suggest £500k upgrades should be cut. Many are in poor condition.
[18.27] Update 9
Cllr Abraham – Looked into fire cuts a few years ago. Chief fire officer not possible. Youth services – buildings have been well maintained for past 20-30 years. Budget process is now much more open than it ever has been.
48 hours isn’t enough time to consider budgets.
Cllr Stewart – Some good ideas from Indy. Parking permit – has it been costed?
We councillors should be the link between County and the public – we don’t need to pay another link person.
Cllr Ward – It feels like things are a lot closer on the budget this year. Like parking permits ideas. PFI + Broadband will take the Island forward. Bringing back Tourism centres smacks of just un-doing that we did last year. Waste contract – money needs to be spent.
Cllr Mazillius – Adult social care we have £7m extra spend. £3m is inflation, rest costs. Members allowance cut – I only take £3k not £5k. Allotments – Local parishes are responsible. We listened to people and kept Westminster House. Personal budgets lets people choose.
[18.37] Update 10
Cllr Warlow – I wasn’t elected last year. Budget has been very interesting process. Come back to Leader’s comment in Nov. There are opportunities to work together.
[end of elected members section. Now summing up]
Cllr Pugh – has been helpful this time. Refute that we’re building up a war chest. Pension pot is in deficit if anything. Interested in Tourist info ideas – £11k spent in Shanklin alone. Will leave Refuse contract as colleagues have spoken to that. Keen to have further discussions with others.
Cllr Lumley – process is far better this year. Got some good comments on Indy budget. Over optimistic on waste procurement and parking permit. Like life guards, permaculture. Disagree with cuts to Members allowances.
Like cycle and foot path upgrades instead of toilets. Cons should vote for Indy budget. There are good parts in Cons budget. Thanks to Chris Matthews.
[18.52] Update 11
Cllr Stephens – Echo Cllr Lumley – this whole process has been much more agreeable. I don’t agree with not doing things because we’re afraid.
Parking – got to clear the side roads. It’s about road safety and quality of life quality of life. If you sell off a building, put the money into the service. Get a grip – allotments are down to all of us, not just parish council. IWC has lots of land that could give as allotments. Adult care – been ground down. We want to move forward. Don’t keep making knee jerk reactions
Cllr Barry – Agree with Cllr Giles. £5m was given away over parking permits since 2005 Budget. If you vote for one budget, you get blamed for the entirety. Over 80s care cost us a fortune. Move to the vote on the budget.
Vote for Labour budget –
For 12.
Against 22.
2 abstentions
[Cons vs Rest]
Vote for Independent budget
For 13
Against 23
Conservative budget
For 23
Against 13
Passed.
Cons versus the rest [End of our live coverage]
