council's response to publication of a recent FoI request from me for information about its staffing levels (Bracknell Liberal Democrats)

Bracknell Liberal Democrats <info@bracknelllibdems.org.uk>

council's response to publication of a recent FoI request from me for information about its staffing levels

November 25, 2008 6:32 PM

How much longer can the council taxpayers of Bracknell Forest be expected to keep Cllr Bettison, Leader of Bracknell Forest Borough Council, and his Conservative colleagues in office?

Cllr Bettison's defence of escalating staff costs, as revealed in a recent Lib Dem Freedom of Information request to the council, shows just how 'out of touch' he really is with the community he is supposed to represent. Not content with casually brushing aside the loss of up to £5million to two Icelandic banks, he now argues that the employment of another 164 staff since 2005/06, at an estimated cost of another £5million a year, is quite reasonable. What planet is Cllr Bettison on?

In recent years we have seen the council waste millions on the so-called e-card, alternate bin collections, and the town centre re-development programme in all its various guises. At the same time the council has sold off its massive housing stock (over 5000 homes) for virtually nothing, simply to get it off the books, and entered into a highly controversial PFI waste contract with two other local authorities which will cost even more millions for years to come.

At a time when everyone else is tightening their belts and businesses such as Avis are having to lay off staff, it is quite reprehensible for the Leader to give the impression that the council is somehow unaffected by such considerations. Any attempt to off load the cost of the council's shortcomings and spiralling operating costs onto council taxpayers next year would be totally unacceptable.

Ray Earwicker

Prospective Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bracknell