Issue - meetings

“With admin staff being moved from Glanaman depot to Llanelli over the last few weeks. And other staff being run down, can you reassure me and the Council that the Glanaman Depot is safe under this Plaid led administration”.

“With admin staff being moved from Glanaman depot to Llanelli over the last few weeks. And other staff being run down, can you reassure me and the Council that the Glanaman Depot is safe under this Plaid led administration”.

Response by Councillor David Jenkins – Executive Board Member for Resources:-

Thank you for your question which I will respond to in the following manner:

You will know, as a former leader of the Council that it is for the current administration to set the vision for the County’s direction of travel in terms of its medium to long term future.

We, as an administration, have clearly stated that economic growth and protection of front line services is high on our agenda.

We have a £290 million capital program in place for the next 5 years and, in addition to that, what we will gain from the Swansea City Deal programme and therefore we are well on the track to meeting our first priority.

In terms of meeting our second priority, that is protection of front line service delivery, we are faced with a severe set of challenges due, in the main, to the reduction in funding we get from Welsh Government. At present, we are working on a best guess estimate of a 2% reduction in the RSG which equates to a £5million cut to our available funds and add to this other validation factors such as a potential 2% increase to our wage bill, inflation and other economic impacts we anticipate that when all these factors are taken into account we will be looking to make up a £12million shortfall in next year’s budget. And I’ll go on to say that we’re also expecting a similar amount in the following year and the following year so, we’re looking at £36m of cuts over the next three years

Faced with this problem Departments are being asked to put forward operational/management saving proposals to collectively try and meet this short fall. There has been talk for some time now within the Environment Department of Depot Rationalisation whereby service provision could be delivered from a reduced number of depots which would lead to more efficient use of labour, plant & machinery thereby saving money. In addition, the land and buildings freed up by this arrangement could then become available for alternative uses which could either generate revenue streams, capital receipts or other employment opportunities.

If officers bring forward a business case to the Executive Board which demonstrates that substantial savings could be made by adopting this proposal we, as Executive Board Members would have to seriously consider what is placed before us. And if after due deliberation of all the pros and cons of the proposal it was decided to approve the plans then that decision could possibly lead to the closure of one or more of the existing service depots.

At present this is a hypothetical scenario but it could become a reality, therefore I am unable, at present, to give you  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6