| Any consultation is fraught with difficulties, if you ask a 100 people what they'd cut or save you'd get 100 different answers I suspect. You also have to keep any consultation fairly simple and user friendly - almost impossible with local authority finance. We have elected members to make these decisions and in this climate it won't matter what they do or don't do they'll be wrong as is nearly always the case in politics. Unless some very glaring consensus is the result of this exercise which is highly unlikely I'm not sure it will help councillors make decisions one bit. What they have to do is their statutory obligations first and then I'm afraid it's up to them to make the difficult choices, personally I want to keep the branch libraries, try and retain the Youth Services, and not to repair roads may cost more if people start claiming for vehicle damage. Services for vulnerable groups would in my view be a priority, but I would try and cut down on management at senior levels wherever possible, but as the ad says - that's just me. |