8 August 2008, 08/178
Council saves millions with no cuts to
services
Money-wise West Lancashire District Council has made even more
savings than its national target - showing it is using its
resources well whilst providing quality services for customers.
According to the District Council’s ‘annual efficiency statement
- a backward look’, it has made ongoing savings of £2.567 million
over the last three years. This is well above the government target
of £1.650 million.
All Councils have had to make efficiencies and meet the 2.5%
savings targets set by the government following a review by Sir
Peter Gershon. He was commissioned in 2003 by central government to
assess how the public sector could exploit opportunities for
savings, so that resources could be released for frontline
services.
So the District Council has more than risen to this challenge of
trying to provide value for money services and make as many savings
as possible but improving its services at the same time - and has
succeeded!
Large-scale efficiency improvements have been made through
introducing new management arrangements for our main leisure
centres. The implementation of alternate weekly collection of
household waste has also been a big service improvement and has
released resources that have been re-invested in improving
recycling rates. A big saving has also been made through the
Council repaying all its borrowing and going debt free.
In addition the Council has made savings through its
organisational re-engineering programme, which looks at individual
services to see how we improve services to customers while reducing
costs at the same time.
Cllr David Westley, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Performance
Management, said: "We have a strong track record of managing our
finances well and spending money wisely. As a result we have been
able to deliver targeted investment in our key priority areas,
while avoiding any significant services cuts, yet have been able to
keep council tax rises to around or below the rate of inflation. We
have significantly exceeded our efficiency targets and will
continue to make every effort to generate further improvements in
services and save money too."
Related information
> Council
budget
> Performance and priorities
> Strategies and plans