Can anyone help me with my Cutswatch list?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on February 25, 2011 at 23:05

An excellent idea. Though there's still quite a lot of fluidity and possible change.

I think we all need to reflect on Funmi Abari's very fair critique at the Council budget meeting last night. As I understood her, she called for earlier and more open dialogue before decisions are taken. Cllr Lorna Reith made equally fair points about the problems posed by the speed and depth of the cuts and information arriving very late.

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Liz on February 25, 2011 at 23:18

Thanks Alan. This list is very much under construction and subject to changes/errors. I started it tonight after trying and failing to find the information online and having a conversation on Twitter with others trying to get an overview of what all the big numbers mean at ground level.

As I say, I don't want to get into whys and wherefores. Simple info from people that are affected is what I need.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lesley Ramm on February 27, 2011 at 14:11

Told this morning by a neighbour that the playcentre/Dinosaurs Playgroup in Newland Road Hornsey N8 is to close. Currently the building runs

- 9-1 Mon-Fri a toddler group. Privately run in the council owned building. Parents pay so assume it makes a proft to be able to pay staff wages, rent etc

- 1-?pm the council run playgroup - seem to be slightly older kids. No idea if parents pay for this one but i think they do

- an after school club - private and paid for

- holding layscheme - again paid for by parents

so overall i always assumed it made money which makes me wonder why it would be closed?

I can understand the council closing loss making clubs etc but if a place makes money why would that make sense?

will post if i hear any more on this one

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Liz on February 27, 2011 at 15:28

Thanks Lesley,

List updated with news of two more children's services closing.

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by wholepint on February 27, 2011 at 19:23

You can also view and add cuts by region on the False Economy website: http://falseeconomy.org.uk/cuts/london/N/t1

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Liz on February 28, 2011 at 22:41

The Hornsey Journal's Stephen Moore has compiled a list of some more of the cuts which you can read here

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 20, 2012 at 17:11

At one point a number of local councils said they wanted to experiment with some "participatory budgeting". But in a couple of examples I looked at - including Haringey - this turned out to be some dumbed-down "consultation" with a survey asking people to click on cut X or Cut Y. One east London borough offered an online slider-bar with which - hypothetically of course - I deleted its entire legal services with one sweep of my mouse.

Cllr Paul Brant is the Deputy Mayor of Liverpool and he now has written an interesting piece on the website ProgressOnline. He says that in Liverpool they: "trusted the public with the full budget process". Which if accurate is an option I'd like to see all councils try.

Anyone with family or friends in Liverpool who can comment on the impact of this approach in practice?

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

___________________

P.S. Before someone pulls me up for linking to a supposedly Labour supporting website, can I explain that "Progress" is a very strange outfit and should probably be called Regress. It seems to be as far right as someone in the Labour Party can go before they risk teetering over the edge and having Eric Pickles call round with a membership form. Although I've no idea about Paul Brant. He seems quite sensible.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Seema Chandwani on July 24, 2012 at 1:17

Judging by this BBC Article it wasnt as utopic as Cllr Brant is making out.

The truth is, I think for a while we have been looking at this particularly wrong, this statement  "trusted the public with the full budget process" is testiment to that, it is not the public that need to be 'trusted' with the budget by Cllrs, its the Cllrs who need to be 'trusted' with the budget by the public! There is a complete absence that all Cllrs have a mandate, its simple... they are elected to represent the public.

Im not a Cllr, nor have I even been so maybe you can help Mr S, but after election day do you all get taken into a room and get injected with a chip? It really disturbs me, this change that happens where Cllrs (of all parties) suddenly believe that they have 'got the job' of being a Council Manager rather than our representation of our taxes! A 'them and us' culture has developed, yet they fail to remember they are us! I find the whole thing strange in my straight talking (some say idealistic but I say common sense) world.

The bottom line is this:

1. £86m worth of cuts (or savings to be politically neutral) needed to be made. It meant somethings were going, some were staying. Only a select few understood what was staying and why, the reason some things stayed is the council has no choice but to keep certain things for statutory legal reasons. The rest became part of an 'x factor' exercise, but as the kids pointed out in the 'survey' there was no option on if you wanted to spend your £400 allocation on young people or youth services. The results of the 'survey' showed no one wanted to spend any money on young people or youth services. That is injust and can/did cause people to feel a bit manipulated.

2. I do feel like many assume the general public are stupid and that we have elected people not to represent us but to parent us. Tell the truth, no matter how brutal it is... the truth is there is no money and the truth is that this austerity could go on until 2020.

3. I do get a tad annoyed when I know there no money, but every other bus stop has a useless poster advertising a council service like it would boost sales...? What is that about? I know how much those bus stop posters cost, its an insult to place them at bus stops when a lot of people in Tottenham are struggling to pay the fare to get on a damn bus or like with Seven Sisters station, where there are street beggars.

4. These consultations are a joke, in Nov we all got sent a consultation on our priorities after the riots, the deadline was Jan. The bid to go into the Outer London Fund was already submitted in Nov, with council priorities on it. There is no post riot money for us (the public) to decide upon, it is £40m of mixed Govenment money with pre-described ringfences of spend. £11m is going on redeveloping two train stations (Tottenham Hale and White Hart Lane), if 100% of the public said NO, it wouldnt make a difference as TFL who has given the £11m only gave it for this purpose.

A consultation is a form of democracy, when we start to manipulate it - it ceases being a democracy and becomes a joke.

No one is explaining to the people of Haringey how bad things are going to get, we have hundreds of families due to be displaced due to the housing benefit cap, we have the highest unemployment in year 2 of a 5-7 year austerity plan, we have as a country no growth plan and any signs of growth have been manipulated by the Royal Wedding and in the coming months the Olympics. No amount of bus stop posters is taking this reality away from families now relying on food handouts like we are in some 3rd world nation awaiting Lenny Henry to pop up with a plastic red nose.

All parties are to blame for the red herring games they are playing rather then real leadership and goverance that we need as a borough Its a bloody outcry that Cllrs dont show up to Full Council or that we play "spot the one falling asleep" on podcast.

We were already deprived in the 'boom years', lord knows where we will be by 2014. There is not one Cllr (or MPs from all parties) I have spoken to that does not know or does not agree with this, but their actions leave me to see that they still believe that riding an exercise bike will win them the Tour De France.  

/End of rant Ha! :)

Ps: Totally agree with you about the description of Progress... but thats not for HoL

• ▶ Reply