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A good way of saving £200,000 a year
(March 05, 2009)IN BRIEF
Tory leader Jane Scott says she isn't prepared to splash out £200,000 to join the London based Local Government Association. Sounds like a good way to save some cash and keep the council tax at a more modest level.
IN FULL
BELIEVE it or not there’s a lot of money wasted when it is spent by the public sector but for one reason or another we must continue to have a public sector.
One of the challenges is to make sure it spends its money more wisely and brings greater added value to the public.
That is easier said than done.
“One piece of information which did cheer me however was that the new Wiltshire Council is not going to sign up as a member of the Local Government Association which will save £200,000 each year,” said former county councillor Steve Dancey.
“Council leader Jane Scott said she did not believe the LGA offered value for money, especially when it was going to charge a membership fee of £200,000 compared with the current £150,000 total charge for the county and four district councils combined.
“That is a big saving and if we had joined there would no doubt be costs on top of this as councillors and officials would have been sent to conferences in London at £500 a time only to come back with more ways of wasting our money.
“I know this happens as I was sent on trips to London when I was a committee chairman.
“The LGA says it acts as an advocate for local government but it doesn’t seem to do much for the county of Wiltshire.
“Each year, no matter which party is in power, we seem to get less and less grant from central government - so this body obviously advocates better for north of England and Welsh authorities than a rural one like our.
“I say let ‘em stew and spend this money here - Mrs Scott is spot on with this one, so why not also forget about the uniforms for library staff?”