CCBC costs and cutting

[SteveH]

Debate over who will pay for loos so people can spend a penny in Conwy county
One council accepts there's a need for them but it faces financial pressures with an overall ?30m budget shortfall

Public toilets could be handed over to town and community councils to look after in a new move to save money in one county. Councils don't legally need to provide toilets and Conwy Council is exploring new ways to run them.

It suggests one solution is ask town and community councils to operate them and it has invited residents to make comments in a public consultation. The consultation ends on Monday, November 20.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/debate-over-how-who-pay-28123187

[Robert2020]

The problem with this council is that they don't see the benefits of visitor's to the county...

Llandudno without tourists wouldn't exist as it does today. The town shops cannot be supported by the local population alone, many are senior with lower daily needs and requirements. Local families are on limited funds...many employed in tourism and laid off during the winter months.

So Conwy council needs to keep the visitors coming and should provide the 48 toilet points in the county....yes it costs 600,000 a year and another 20,000 for the vandalism but the revenue generated by the visitors is vast....(https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Resident/Leisure-sport-and-health/Community-Facilities/Public-Toilets/assets/images/DRAFT-Public-Toilet-Strategy-v02.pdf)

If the council are short of money then start by looking at the costs of running this council....remove the waste, cut the workforce.... Conwy has a population of 118,200 (https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Council/Statistics-and-research/Population/Assets/documents/Population-profile-bulletin-202110.pdf) and a workforce of 6954  ( https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Council/Strategies-Plans-and-Policies/Equality-and-diversity/Assets/documents/Eq-Employee-Monitoring/Employment-Monitoring-Report-2020-2021.pdf)  compare that to Flintshire Council...156,000 residents, 6113 staff (https://www.greenjobs.co.uk/companies/flintshire-county-council). Do not place the costs on the town council as their funds already support many things Conwy Council do not support.

This council need a radical rethink about its future before it is bankrupt because of poor decisions which will destroy the visitor numbers and lead to a drop in revenue.

Keep the toilets and cut out the waste.

[SteveH]

Excellent post, with a fitting ending.....Keep the toilets and cut out the waste.

[SteveH]

A Conwy councillor has branded a decision to spend ?250,000 on consultancy fees ridiculous, criticising the council?s intention to sell Bodlondeb, moving staff and councillors to Coed Pella in Colwyn Bay. Speaking at a finance and resources overview scrutiny committee this week, Cllr Sian Grady slammed the decision.

Conwy is facing a ?20m to ?30m budget shortfall next year, having already increased council tax by 9.9% last year as well as forcing services to make 10% cuts ? with even schools having to slash budgets by 5%. Conwy?s cabinet rubber-stamped the decision to spend the ?250,000 on consultancy fees in September, hoping to sell the grade-two listed Bodlondeb to cut costs and raise funds.

But some councillors retrospectively criticised this decision, arguing a strategic vision for the council?s assets needed to be in place before spending quarter of a million pounds. The committee was debating a report on its corporate risks when Cllr Harry Saville asked cabinet member for sustainable economy Cllr Nigel Smith a question.

Cllr Saville said the report indicated that Conwy didn?t currently have an asset management vision, questioning the wisdom of spending ?250,000 on consultant fees without that in place. He said, ?We'll see that the council apparently has no strategic vision for use of its assets.

?I'll take the report as correct that we have no strategic plan. In light of that, is it really sensible for us to be looking at spending almost ?250,000 on a consultancy study to remodel Coed Pella, which is a pretty new building, right now, in light of the financial position we find ourselves in?

?Should this really be a priority now? Should it not wait until we have that larger asset management plan and we know what our plans are for our office and accommodation portfolio for the council? I don't know if Nigel (Cllr Smith) has any thoughts on that.?

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/cash-strapped-council-slammed-250000-28163191?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[Hugo]

Conwy is facing a ?20m to ?30m budget shortfall next year, having already increased council tax by 9.9% last year as well as forcing services to make 10% cuts ? with even schools having to slash budgets by 5%. Conwy?s cabinet rubber-stamped the decision to spend the ?250,000 on consultancy fees in September, hoping to sell the grade-two listed Bodlondeb to cut costs and raise funds.

Why do the Councillors not stand up and object if they think that things are wrong?      Consultants were approached for Llandudno's two beaches and look what has happened to the beaches.   I've a feeling that Conwy's cabinet rubber stamped those too and it has cost the ratepayers millions of pounds by their decisions.
If anyone wants to see CCBC in action then have a look at the video of any planning application, I guarantee that it'll be an eye opener and you can understand where the phrase of "nodding donkeys" comes from

[SteveH]

Conwy councillors backed a public toilet strategy proposing to increase charges on pay-as-you-go toilets, transfer management to town councils, or even ?drastically reduce? the number of facilities.

The council currently manages 48 public toilets as well as 22 baby-changing facilities.

During the summer the various public toilets are opened daily between 7am and 10am. They then close between 7pm and 9 pm but shut between 4.30pm and 5.30pm in the winter months.

Two toilets are staffed daily at Betws y Coed and Llandudno and cleaned at regular intervals whilst other sites are attended in rounds during the day.

cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23949619.conwy-councillors-back-new-public-toilet-strategy/?ref=rss&IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

CONWY'S cabinet has backed a toilet strategy that could see the county council ask town councils to pay for public toilets ? if they want to keep them.

During the meeting at Bodlondeb, cabinet members backed the strategy which proposes ?drastically reducing? the number of toilets as one option as part of the cost-cutting exercise.

And leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey said vandalism was a blight on public toilets before suggesting people should instead use facilities at supermarkets, rather than the whole cost fall on the taxpayer.

cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23958216.conwy-urge-town-councils-pick-cost-public-toilets/

[SteveH]

COUNCILLORS in Conwy have been warned bankruptcy would be ?horrendous, bloody, and draconian?.

The local authority faces a budget black hole of up to ?30m next year, alongside a ?3m overspend this year.

During a meeting of the council?s cabinet at Bodlondeb this week, councillors were warned they may have to consider cutting statutory services to balance the books.

The council?s head of finance painted a bleak picture of what filing for bankruptcy would look like after council leader Charlie McCoubrey asked him to explain hypothetically what would happen if Conwy issued a 114 notice ? declaring itself bankrupt.

cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23961004.bankruptcy-horrendous-bloody-draconian-conwy/?ref=rss&IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589