84 jobs to go as council looks for £10m cuts

A second round of Oldham Council budget cuts will lead to a total of 84 redundancies and £10 million savings from April, members will hear on Monday.

The first round of cuts, totalling £8 million and meaning 80 redundancies, was discussed in November, although not yet implemented.

The second round will be scrutinised by the Performance and Value for Money Select Committee next week. It will debate plans which include axing four more jobs and making £2.7 million more savings.

Latest cost-cutting ideas include:

:: Reviewing second, third, fourth and fifth-tier management in the Economy, Places and Skills directorate to save £100,000 and cut two jobs.

:: Cutting another £100,000 off the council’s £5 million security budget, by commissioning only from the council’s First Response Service.

:: Cutting £25,000 off the Bloom and Grow budget for North-West in Bloom competition.

:: Saving £250,000 on management costs, security and maintenance by selling or demolishing unwanted council buildings.

:: And saving £50,000 by cutting recruitment advertising and improving the council website.

Fees and charges across the council will increase, and there will be efficiency savings, IT installation and reviews of services and supplies.

Details of the first round of cuts include:

:: Closing and demolishing West End House and moving Street Scene staff to Moorhey Street (£70,000).

:: Reviewing the car-parking contract (£150,000), taking the car parking income from the Bradshaw Street car park when used for Coliseum parking (£12,000) and enforcing car parking charges in district centres after two or three free hours (£100,000).

:: Bin delivery teams will be cut from three to two (£30,000) while nine posts will go from refuse collection (£258,000) after the roll out of alternative weekly collections.

:: Parkview Family Centre will close (£20,000), Positive Steps Oldham will lose £100,000 funding, and Westhulme Park will be sold (£30,000) in a land swop with the Pennine Acute Hospitals’ Trust.

The Liberal Democrat administration has promised council tax will not rise by more then 2.5 per cent. Cuts will be found by providing minimum levels of statutory services, closing buildings, and increasing charges.

Next year’s cuts follow a £21 million saving in the current year, including over 400 job losses and a major redundancy programme.