Archived News - Local Government
Budget 2012 - A message from Councillor James Jamieson
Have your say before Friday, 14th October.
Every day of the year, Central Bedfordshire Council provides services to Eaton Bray and other communities around Central Beds. All of us will make use of some of these services, whether they are road maintenance, waste collection or the social care services that protect vulnerable children and adults; Central Bedfordshire Council spends more than £180 million a year delivering these services.
Looking ahead, there will be less Government grant available for the Council than there has been in the past, as efforts to tackle the national deficit continue. There are also increasing pressures on some of the services provided by the Council because of increasing needs and rising costs.
Central Bedfordshire Council achieved savings of more than £20 million already from reviewing what they do and how they work. This year they must save another £19m and expect further reductions in the next fnancial year.
Taking all these factors into consideration, the Council is preparing a financial strategy for the next four years - and would like your views to be "at the heart of the plans".
Whatever your opinions, please take this opportunity to
shape the plans and make your council tax money count!
Complete the Budget Survey 2012 online.
Complete the Budget 2012 survey
To have your say on the council's budget priorities, you can complete the survey online using the Budget Survey 2012 form.
Alternatively, please print and complete the survey and return by Friday, 14 October 2011 (you do not need a stamp) to:
FREEPOST RSJS GBB2 SRZT,
Budget Consultation,
Central Bedfordshire Council,
Priory House, Monks Walk,
Chicksands,
Shefford,
SG17 5TQ
What happens next?
The feedback from this survey will help Councillors prepare options for savings for next year and beyond, with consultation on these options during December 2011 and January 2012.
You can keep up to date with the council's budget setting process at www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/consultations
Source: Central Bedfordshire Council
The Community Right To Build
If you and your neighbours had the power to decide, how would you develop your community?
What homes would you build? Or perhaps your neighbourhood needs business premises, a community hall or a sports facility?
The Government is acting to remove the red tape and bureaucracy that hold you and your neighbours back from improving your local area to make it a thriving, vibrant place to live.
The Community Right to Build is part of the Government's drive to create the 'Big Society'.
It's only right that you make the decisions about how your local area should grow.
The Community Right to Build will
- Allow communities to get together and take forward developments for new homes, shops and facilities in their area.
- Allow a community organisation to go ahead with development without the need for an application for planning permission, if there is overwhelming community support for the development and minimum criteria are met.
But the Community Right to Build won't be used to expand the size of communities by more than 10 per cent over a 10 year period.
Contact us by 31 August 2010 at:
For details on the plans, visit:
How you can get involved
The details of how the Community Right to Build will work are being developed.
We want you to tell us how to get it right, and we want to know about your community development projects and ideas as well.
Source: NALC