While we await the full budget details on 29th January the savings document has been presented and it doesn’t make for very good reading.
Budget 2020-21 Savings Document
ADVANTAGE CARD PARKING DISCOUNTS TO BE DISCONTINUED
Have the Conservatives not considered how the HUGE increase in parking charges is likely to impact retail sales in Windsor?
After losing hundreds of thousands of pounds last year because people don’t want to pay exorbitant parking fees to shop in Maidenhead with all the work going on and retailers closing down… the lesson learned is to cull the Advantage Card discount on parking and this will generate £650,000 of extra income??? Well that’s what the spreadsheet says!
Hey, what about selling permits for street parking, that is reportedly going to bring in £250,000? If you bring in consideration with a fee, does that require you guarantee a parking space under the contract? Question worth asking.
After culling head count for years and people leaving because they have too much to do, another solution is to cancel any vacant posts, that will supposedly save £231,000!
People joke that the Around the Borough Magazine is all about Maidenhead… well they are looking to halve the budget and take it digital… Will advertisers pay for digital advertising or would they rather see a hard copy?
Getting rid of the GROW service will save £64,000 … so the unemployed who need a little tlc and bonding with those in the same boat to get their confidence back are going to be left to fend for themselves?
The icing on the cake, for me, with all the issues people have around gambling and bookies on every street corner… currently they only pay £600 a year to renew their licence and while most everything else is going up 3%, zero increase for bookies… what do you think of that?
If you take time to read the report you will also read these two key points and I quote:
4.3.1 (f) Under-achievement of income targets – in some cases it has not been possible to deliver increased income even by setting higher charges.
5.1. Given the level of financial uncertainty and current service pressures, there is clearly a risk that the current budget may prove difficult to deliver.
How confident are you that the conservatives will make the savings / generate the revenues they are quoting after reading that?
Please attend council meetings and share your feelings.
People are happy to moan and grown on social media but that has little impact on the Conservatives as they just brush it off as “moaners”. Why not go look at the whites of their eyes and ask the questions? It’s what I used to do before I decided that the only way to actually change anything is to stand for election and win a seat around the table.
Thank you.
Jon
Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
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