Proposals to protect many of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s priority frontline public services, like highways maintenance, bin collections, and street cleaning, will be discussed on Tuesday 6th December. The discussions are in light of severe national economic circumstances and increasing demand for Council services.
The Service Delivery service plan is the fifth of five reports which set out the organisation’s financial position and how services will be provided over the next three years. The Planning, Transport, and Environment Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel will consider the plan.
Because the Council has made financial efficiencies in the way in which day-to-day services are run and the substantial investment in our attractions, such as the Roman Baths, is helping to generate surpluses, they are able to not only protect services from cuts but also make investment into local communities.
In recognition of the tough trading environment for traders and squeeze on motorists’ incomes, all car parking charges are frozen in 2012/13 and free parking will be retained in all other Council car parks. Fares for Park and Ride services are also frozen.
To support the public transport network, their funding for contracted bus services that otherwise wouldn’t operate commercially remains at £1 million and currently supports around 590,000 passenger trips annually.
Their highways maintenance programme has resulted in a significant improvement in road surface standards. By April 2012, the investment made over the past two years will have resulted in around 17% of the entire road network being either resurfaced or surface dressed – equivalent to resurfacing from Bath to London. The Council intends to invest £3.8 million in 2012/13 to prevent costly pothole repairs. A further £7.1 million is proposed for the two years after that.
Investment is also proposed to improve the wider highways network. As well as £1.35 million for local improvement and safety schemes, £1.7 million is recommended for the Rossiter Road scheme, and funding is being investigated for the permanent restoration of Victoria Bridge.
There are no changes to waste collections – weekly pick-ups will continue in 2012/13. The Council will be conducting refuse collections more efficiently in future following a thorough analysis of our routes. As a result, one less vehicle and crew will be required saving an estimated £95,000 for the local taxpayer at no reduction in the standard of our service.
In order to protect these priority frontline public services, they have to reduce the level of subsidy on some services. For example, annual garden waste and cardboard prices will increase by £5.55 per bin so that our charges are in line with neighbouring authorities. They must also reduce some activities, such as the frequency of some parks and grounds maintenance, to achieve their savings targets.
Further work will take place on re-shaping library services to rural communities. An extended Home Delivery Service in rural villages will be launched, together with book exchanges and other initiatives to tailor our service around what library users tell us they want. We envisage that these plans will greatly increase the amount of time that rural residents have to access books and other services, rather than the 30 minutes or less currently provided by mobile libraries.
Papers for the meeting are available at: http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=462&MId=3528&Ver=4