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Maximiseyourchild’s developmentwithKumon’s tailoredmathsandEnglish studyprogrammes. Stoke-on-Trent Reporting local life since 1854 Tel.01782286006 BY ALEX CAMPBELL ContactyourlocalInstructortoday *Enrolyour childbetween 1September& 31October2011for atwo-weekFree Trialandbeginyour Kumonjourney. kumon.co.uk COUPON COLLECT: PAGE 6 Do you fear for your job at the city council? Email us at letters@ COLLECT: PAGE 16 thesentinel.co.uk Sponsorsof MissStaffordshire MissEngland2011 Stafford ©NM
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Reporting local life since 1854 37pTuesday, October 4, 2011
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Two-year taxfreeze pledgeA TORY-RUN council lastnight revealed it is freezingcouncil tax rates for twoye a r s.
Staffordshire CountyCouncil is believed to be thefirst in the country to confirmit will not increase tax billsnext year.
And it has also committedto freezing council tax in2013/14, regardless ofGovernment incentives.
The announcement followsChancellor George Osborne’sconfirmation of an £805million national cash pot toensure councils freeze billsfor another year.
Mohammed Pervez, theleader of Stoke-on-Trent CityCouncil has said: “Whilst nodecision has been made wewill consider theGover nment’s offer veryc a re f u l ly. ”
Cheshire East Council hasnot decided on tax for next year.
More parkingspaces in townA FORMER supermarket carpark is to be re-opened in timefor the Christmas shoppingseason to help ease thepressure on parking spaces inNewcastle town centre.
But only the surface levelcar park at the formerS a i n s bu r y ’s site, off the A34,will be used for the new pay-and-display facilities. Theneighbouring multi-storey carpark will remain off limits tomotorists due to safety issues.
The surface car park isexpected to re-open in earlyN ove m b e r.See Letters: Pages 8&9
350 MOREJOBS TO GOAT COUNCIL
Staff cut to help balance the budget
BY ALEX [email protected]
AT LEAST 350 more job cuts arebeing planned at Stoke-on-TrentCity Council as the authoritybattles to save up to a further £25million.
Consultation with unions andemployees is expected to startnext month over the next wave ofcivic centre redundancies.
The Sentinel understandscouncil chief executive Johnvan de Laarschot hasinformed some staffthat between 350 and 500more jobs will be shedin the latest cost-cuttingm e a s u re s.
About 800 staff have alreadylost their jobs in 2011/12 as thecouncil tried to save almost £36million over a 12-month period.
Those losses sparked redund-ancy payouts of more than £11million.
A council insider told The Sen-tinel: “The chief executive hasbeen holding meetings with staffto talk about the s i t u at i o n .
“He told them 500 more jobscould go.”
The exact amount the author-ity will have to cut from thebudget in 2012/13 will not beconfirmed until the Government
finalises its financial settle-ment.
But finance chiefs are alreadypredicting a £4.5 million over-spend in 2011/12, because of afailure to implement all of thecuts and below-expectedi n c o m e.
Latest figures show 1,080 work-ers have left the council sinceApril 2009; 833 through volun-tary redundancy, 213 through
compulsory redundancyand 34 through earlyre t i re m e n t .
Most of the redund-ancies came in adult
and neighbourhood, andchildren and young
people’s service depart-ments, leaving 5,433 full and part-time employees at the end ofJu n e.
Councillor Dave Conway,leader of the opposition CityIndependents, said he has beencontacted by two members ofstaff who have been informed ofthe possible 500 redundancies.
He added: “The council isdown to its bare knucklesa l re a dy.
“The work is still going to bethere even if the jobs are not.
“My worry is that absenteeismthrough stress will increasebecause our officers are going to
be under a huge amount of pres-s u re.
“Every year there seems to beanother re-organisation.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if therewere jobs out there, but there isnothing.”
Council officials today con-firmed consultation would beheld with unions and staff.
Mr van de Laarschot said: “Toachieve the level of savingswhich need to be made by the citycouncil in the next financial yearwe potentially either need tomake changes to our services orreduce our salary budget.
“It's early days for our ideas,and it is all subject to consulta-tion with unions and employ-e e s. ”
Council leader CouncillorMohammed Pervez said: “Wehave started the process ofidentifying savings for nextye a r.
“Once again, we are faced withvery difficult decisions.
“No final decisions have beenmade but it is fair to say that jobcuts are likely.”
Trade union Unison wasunavailable for comment.
Do you fear for your job at thecity council? Email us at [email protected]
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