Council wants to know: what do you think should be given the chop?
THE cost of spending cuts facing Calderdale Council amounts to £500 for every man, woman and child in the district.
Now councillors want your ideas about where the axe should fall, beginning with a meeting in the upper Calder Valley.
The first of 17 key meetings – one in every electoral ward – will begin on September 1 at Todmorden Town Hall and end at Rastrick High School on September 27.
Previous ward forums have had a mixed success, attracting on average of only about 15 people. This time the council hopes it will be standing room only at all the September meetings when people will be asked to consider the budget and the difficult issues facing the authority in the grip of the spending squeeze.
Officials leading the sessions will run through a summary of council services.
They will ask people what must be provided, what should be provided, if at all possible, and what services the council will not pay for or provide in the future.
Opinions will be recorded using a red/amber/green voting scheme.
At the end of the day, the final decisions will be down to the 51 elected members of the council, who have to draw up spending plans for the next three years.
Involving electors in this way is designed to bring about a consensus at a time when the country as a whole is in the financial doldrums and belt-tightening is unavoidable.
In some ways the omens are good in that for the first time, Calderdale Council is run by a Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition and the Government is a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition.
But empowering ordinary citizens and getting them to participate in decision-making has never been one of the council's strong points.
A review of ward forums held since January shows that more women than men attend and two-thirds are over 55, although 98 per cent said they were "informative".
The big issues that have arisen at most ward forums are anti-social behaviour, waste collection, snow clearing and building land.
The council's Liberal Democrat leader, Calder ward Coun Janet Battye said evidence showed that people would turn out, often in large numbers, when there were issues on the agenda that directly affected them.
In the case of the forthcoming spending cuts, the effects would be wide-ranging and could impact on just about everyone.
She has urged as many people as possible to attend those taking place in their ward next month, and a similar plea has been made this week by Todmorden ward Coun Ian Cooper (Conservative).
Council leaders say they are "committed to a budget consultation process which offers the chance to reconnect with local people and to pioneer innovative approaches in difficult times."
- WARD forums will be held as follows:
Wednesday, September 1, 6.45pm at Todmorden Town Hall. Thursday, September 2, 7pm at Hipperholme and Lightclife High School. Monday, September 6, 7pm at the Sports Club, Mason Green, Illingworth. Tuesday, September 7, 6.30pm Willow Court, Lower Victoria Road, Elland; 7pm at Christ Church School, Park Road, Sowerby Bridge and 7pm at Lee Mount Club, Ovenden, Halifax.
Wednesday, September 8, 6.45pm at Ripponden Primary School; 7pm at Wellington Court, Sutcliffe Street, Warley and 7pm at Halifax Central Library.
Tuesday, September 14, 6.45pm at Midgley School and 7pm at Copley Primary School.
Wednesday, September 15, 7pm at Brighouse High School Thursday, September 16, 12 noon at Hanson Lane Enterprise Centre, Halifax; 6.45pm at Hebden Bridge Town Hall and 7pm at St Michael's School, Shelf. Thursday, September 23, 6.30pm at Greetland Primary School. Monday, September 27, 7pm at Rastrick High School.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
