Consultation on cuts must run deeper than Sutton swimming pool

12 November 2012

Consultation on cuts must run deeper than Sutton swimming pool 

There needs to be some belt-tightening at the town hall before any more community facilities and services are scrapped.

That’s the view of St Helens Green Party following the council’s announcement of a public consultation on proposals to ‘mothball’ Sutton swimming pool.

Francis Williams of St Helens Green Party says:

“Government cuts are hitting communities across the country, but if we are to fight them effectively the council must be seen to have its own house in order.    

“The cost of senior management at St Helens Council – politicians and officers combined – is heading towards £1million per year. When council staff and the rest of us are tightening our own belts, we have to ask ‘is this value for money?’ and ‘could the money be better spent elsewhere?’”

St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council has 48 local councillors: three for each of the borough’s 16 wards. In the financial year 2011/12, total allowances claimed by them exceeded £550,000.

The council leader received £40,000, the deputy leader £25,000 and their six cabinet colleagues more than £22,000 each.

The most senior politicians in St Helens collectively receive allowances approaching £200,000 a year.

A compulsory 10% levy on individual Labour Party councillors’ allowances meant that the Labour Party itself indirectly received more than £50,000 from local council tax payers.

St Helens Council also has a chief executive, Carole Hudson, whose own salary exceeds £150,000 per year and St Helens Green Party understands that the total cost of senior management on the officer side is more than £½million.

Francis Williams adds:

“We have a bloated expenses and allowances system that allows individuals, families, political parties and their career politicians to profit at the expense of the rest of us.

“Undoubtedly there are some capable councillors, but the status quo cannot continue. It’s time to stop the gravy train.”

St Helens Green Party instead proposes:

• a review of senior management costs at St Helens Council, including political management costs;
• a review of the council’s three councillors per ward policy;
• a review of the current election cycle, which sees borough-wide local elections in three out of every four years at an estimated cost of £100,000 per year.  

St Helens Green Party urges local residents to have their say on the future of Sutton swimming pool at sthelens.gov.uk/consultations

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