Cheshire West and Chester Council: £12m – a price worth paying?

Aug 27 2009 by Naomi Dunning, Chester Chronicle

£12m – a price worth paying?

LABOUR councillor Reggie Jones said the council have not spent their money on what the people need most.

He said one of the prime examples of this is the amount the council has spent on liveries on council owned vehicles.

Cllr Jones said: “They have spent all this money on shiny new liveries but at the same time we had to fight Cllr Neil Ritchie’s decision to reduce the frequency of the Park and Ride.”

Cllr Jones said they had a similar fight to restore the bus to the hospital in Blacon.

He said: “The people of Blacon are losing out, they see what the council can spend on this paintwork and yet the council take the hospital bus and we have to fight to get it back.”

“In terms of the costs of uniforms, we have to be careful. There an awful lot of people in this council who wear uniforms, including staff such as teachers.

“What we have to question is whether every teacher or staff who has a vest needs one, and to make sure only those who are actually out on the streets are allocated them.”

He added the problem is that changes in structure and policy just keep occurring, leaving staff confused and demoralised.

He said: “We have already had 1,000 submit redundancy applications for just 200 jobs – they are fed up with all the changes going on.”