THIS paper recently headlined a report Radical councils shake-up (Standard, May 29). It referred to plans being considered by Cotswold District Council and three other nearby councils to merge services to save money with the proposals to be discussed at the Cabinet meeting on June 5.
I attended this meeting hoping to hear a lively debate and discussion on the various options and how they would be implemented.
Sadly I was disappointed.
The leader of CDC gave a brief introduction summarising by saying this was an opportunity to “crunch services” – perhaps he meant crush services.
Only one councillor, out of the seven present, asked any questions, most stayed quiet or just made vague comments.
How all of this will affect staff was not mentioned once.
They should remember that without staff there can be no CDC.
It is clear that direction and decisions are made by a few senior councillors behind closed doors and the rest of the political party just follow. This is not democracy.
The good ship CDC is setting sail into uncharted waters and sadly the captain has his blinkers on, blue ones of course.
The Standard’s Comment in the same edition needs a response, “cushy pension deals for civil servants”.
The most generous pension schemes are found in the private sector, just look at the payments to any board of directors of any FT 100 company.
Finally staff who work for councils are local government officers not civil servants, they work for central government and have different terms and conditions.
RAY BRASSINGTON
Cirencester
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here