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Bristol City Council 'must cut 330 jobs' Bristol City Council 'must cut 330 jobs'
(about 3 hours later)
Bristol City Council must cut 330 jobs, mayor George Ferguson has announced as he revealed his proposed budget.Bristol City Council must cut 330 jobs, mayor George Ferguson has announced as he revealed his proposed budget.
He said they would be administrative jobs and that he estimated about 100 compulsory redundancies would need to be made. He said they would be mostly administrative jobs and that he estimated about 100 compulsory redundancies would need to be made.
Mr Ferguson, elected as the first mayor of the city in November, also proposed a council tax rise of just under 2%.Mr Ferguson, elected as the first mayor of the city in November, also proposed a council tax rise of just under 2%.
He must find ways of implementing a £35m reduction in spending, which is about 9% of the council budget.He must find ways of implementing a £35m reduction in spending, which is about 9% of the council budget.
Mr Ferguson has already given his backing to plans to close some of the city's care homes and day care centres. The job cuts, he said, would save about £19.5m and he added that he would be "cutting from the top".
'Closing public toilets' He said the current chief executive, Graham Sims, would not be replaced.
Further proposals include a £230,000 reduction in the cost of the council's legal department, and saving £350,000 a year by not proceeding with a proposal for a new swimming pool in east Bristol. Mr Sims was brought in as an interim chief executive in August, following the early retirement of Jan Ormondroyd, to allow the incoming mayor to decide if he wanted to recruit a permanent successor.
He also suggests scrapping the proposed recycling centre at Hartcliffe, saving £220,000. Mr Ferguson, an Independent, said that instead of a chief executive there would be "a chief operating officer who comes from industry and will also be head of corporate services".
Mr Ferguson wants to close 79 council-run public toilets - saving £600,000 a year - and cut council funding for 32 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) - saving £540,000 a year. He said: "I've had a very short time to do it (the budget). We only got the settlement from the government on 19 December and I was only elected the month before that."
He would also like to introduce parking charges at Blaise Castle and Oldbury Court in a bid to raise £110,000 a year. Mr Ferguson said he had to cut a further £65m over the next three years.
In addition there is expected to be a £100,000 reduction in the grant to community transport providers. "In the coming three years I hope to be able to do something much more fundamental," he said.
Mr Ferguson is expected to say he will spend £3m more on safeguarding children and young people, and an extra £3m on older people and vulnerable adults. "We don't want to carry on with the cutting procedure, but build up from a zero base and decide what's necessary."
The full details will be revealed later. He said he was bringing in people from the business sector to assist with budgeting and had already had voluntary help in coming up with the proposals.
The proposals will need to be approved by a majority vote of the council. "It's important we treat running the city council as a business," he said.
"I do believe the cuts are responsible and it would be irresponsible not to put up council tax."
The savings, he said, meant he could spend £3m more on safeguarding children and young people, and an extra £3m on older people and vulnerable adults.
Liberal Democrat cabinet member Simon Cook said: "This is the third year we've had to make reductions in the budget. We've already had to cut £55m.
"I don't want any teams or staff put under so much pressure the whole thing breaks down."
He added: "There are things here that as a past leader and deputy leader of the previous administration I regret. I regret we can't build the recycling centre or the swimming pool, and I will go on arguing with George that maybe we can."
Conservative cabinet member Geoff Gollop said the proposals were "not written in tablets of stone" and that they were open to any suggested amendments.
The proposals, made up of more than 100 individual elements, will need to be approved by a majority vote of the council.