West Lancashire Borough Council has set out a four-year
plan to save money and protect frontline services in its Business
Plan 2011/12 - 2014/15.
Each year we refresh the plan to make sure that we are
undertaking the right actions to achieve our longer term goals.
The council estimated it needed to save 10% of its budget in
2011/12 and 30% budget over the following four years. Much of this
is required as a result of the reduced grant settlement from the
Government, but also reflects spending and cost pressures the
council will face.
The council is managing this challenging
financial situation through a four-year plan to maximise efficiency
savings and increase income to bridge the gap. However whilst every
effort is being made to drive out efficiency savings, service
reductions are likely in some areas and we will need to prioritise
spending carefully in line with the needs of local people.
The Business Plan was adopted by full council in April
2011. The plan sets out several strands of work to be
undertaken over four years, including a shared services
programme, a value for money programme and resource management. As
part of the plan, Major Service Reviews were carried out which
looked at each of the services the council provides and whether or
not they should continue to be provided in the same way.
Following consultation, a series of policy options were agreed
by Council in October 2011 and we have successfully identified the
savings and efficiencies required for 2012/13.
The council will continue to work to minimise the number of
redundancies, but it is not possible to say at this stage how many
staff will be affected. However, given the council's good financial
standing there will be no rush to cut jobs, and these issues will
be given thorough consideration to ensure well thought out
decisions are made.
We are keen to know what local people think about the plan so
that opinions can be considered as part of the next review. We
are currently awaiting the results of a budget survey that we
undertook earlier in the year and we will seek public opinion again
in the summer about the options being considered by the
council.
If you have any queries, require further information, or would
like to request a copy of the plan in an alternative format, please
do not hesitate to contact:
Kim Webber, Managing Director (Transformation), WLBC, 52
Derby Street, Ormskirk L39 2DF
Tel: 01695 585005
Email: kim.webber@westlancs.gov.uk
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