In the letter I wrote to the Chronicle I made it clear that all members of the Council would welcome an opportunity to make substantial savings through reorganising staffing arrangements.However, the consultant report Jim refers to, that he could only have read if it has been leaked to him, claims that savings of over £9 million can be made without giving any details of how. The only example given would fall foul of the Data Protection Act. This mistake could be explained by the fact that the consultants concerned have no previous experience of working in a large local authority such as Hounslow.The report I read reminded me of the "send £50 to join our work from home plan that will EARN YOU hundreds of pounds a week!" type, and I am not prepared to sign up to spend millions of council taxpayers' money on an unsubstantiated promise.As to Thursday's Area Commmittee, it looks as if £5 million plus of budget savings will have been decided by Council before residents have a chance to have their say. Within the last hour I have received an e-mail with a LATE REPORT to Tuesday's meeting listing these cuts. As usual, many are administrative and will not hit frontline services. However, cutting 6 community teacher posts (based at schools such as Ivybridge and Green Dragon) over the next 3 years will be a major blow to disadvantaged families who rely on their support. Further cuts to the schools music service will mean that children whose parents cannot afford increased fees will go without, and a 50p weekly increase in school meals will do nothing to assist families on low incomes who don't qualify for free meals.What I find most iniquitious about this late report is that small groups like mine (Indepedent Alliance) will not be able to schedule a discussion on the details until just before Tuesday's meeting due to previous commmitments. We had been lead to believe that the full Budget debate would take place on 6th March at the Council meeting scheduled for this.All in all, the new Executive seem no more interested in listening to the public before making a budget than last year's.Incidentally, if council tax eventually ends up lower than Labour might have proposed be prepared for large increases in parking charges, crossover installation charges, meals on wheels and home help charges etc. if you use these services. Aren't these the charges we call "stealth taxes"?
John Connelly ● 6702d