Protest at Lancashire County Council cuts meeting
Lancashire county council have announced the cuts and there was protests. BBC Lancashire News and Lancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council says.
THE final agreement on Lancashire County Council’s budget was given at today’s Full Council meeting (Thursday 17 February).
Lancashire County Council has taken the unprecedented step of setting the budget for the next three years.
The council intends to save £179.1m from its revenue budget over the next three years, with new investment totalling £218.5m in the next four years.
The county council’s part of the council tax will be frozen next year, with any increases in the following two years limited to a maximum of 2.5%.
County Councillor Geoff Driver, leader of the county council, said: “There is no getting away from the fact that we have had to make some tough decisions in making these savings but it has given us an opportunity to look at how we can reshape some of our services without compromising the quality. We will be protecting frontline services as far as possible and will spend £133m less on management and administration over the next three years.
“The agreed budget today sets out a saving of £179.1m but some of the proposals are currently out to consultation and therefore exactly how we will go about shaping those services has still to be determined.
“By setting out a clear plan for the next three years we have identified how we need to do things differently in some instances but it also means that we will not be standing here next year announcing a whole new lot of savings.”
The county council will also benefit from an additional £1.14m of Home Office funding that will go into community safety. The funding will come in to the county council who will distribute it to district councils towards the work of Police Community Support Officers.
While making savings over the next three years, the county council has also agreed new investment to improve the road network and road safety.
The new investment totalling £218.5m over the next four years will improve the county’s infrastructure and drive economic growth, including:
* £81m to maintain assets such as roads, lighting and bridges; to tackle potholes and other problems caused by recent severe weather
* £10.7m to improve road safety, including the establishment of 20mph areas in residential areas
* Major transport schemes, such as £11.4m for the revised Heysham-M6 Link plan and £6.8m for the Blackpool to Fleetwood tramway. Planning will also begin for the proposed Broughton Bypass.
The county council also estimates that over £123m will be invested in improving the condition of school buildings across Lancashire over the next four years.
County Councillor Driver said: “This substantial investment, at a time when we face a very challenging financial situation, shows our determination to ensure that Lancashire has the right infrastructure to encourage the economic growth that the county needs.
“From ensuring our existing roads are in good repair, to pushing forward with major new road schemes and economic development initiatives, we aim to create the conditions for businesses to bring jobs and prosperity across the county.”
During 2011, it is likely that the council will formally agree a strategic partnership with BT which could lead to savings of £400m over ten years. This would involve council services such as HR and payroll, ICT support for council services and schools; how people contact the council and procurement.
A new super-fast broadband network planned by Lancashire County Council will be running by 2014. It will play a key role in securing economic recovery and growth across the county. During the next year the council will look to sign up a commercial partner to deliver this ambitious project.
By taking the step to set the budget for the next three years the county council is seeking to give clarity about its future by setting out plans for a £71.7m saving in 2011-12, followed by a further £50m in 2012-13 and another £57.4m in 2013-14 – a total of £179.1m over the next three years.
The county council needs to make the savings as a result of the recent local government finance settlement and existing budget pressures, such as the costs of serving an ageing population.
Not including the budget for schools, managed by the schools themselves, it means the county council has to save around a quarter of its direct annual expenditure.
Phil Halsall, chief executive of the county council, said: “The scale of the challenge is considerable but we intend to establish a clear and steady path towards a financially sustainable future.
“The county council will remain a large organisation responsible for hundreds of vital services and we need to ensure those services will be effective even when there is far less money available.
“As we have said before, there is no doubt the workforce will be smaller in the future but we remain confident we can achieve this through voluntary redundancy and redeployment.”
BBC Lancashire says
Demonstrators have gathered outside Lancashire County Council’s headquarters to protest against £179m cuts, which are being discussed inside
The annual £803m budget is to be cut by £33m next year and £146m over 2012/14.
Conservative council leader Geoff Driver said: “The county council has to save around a quarter of its direct annual expenditure. Read full story here on BBC website
Red Nose Day 2011
Well it’s nearly that time of the year again for the 1st Major Charity event for BBC yes it’s
Red Nose Day and it is back on Friday 18th March so it’s time to get ready to join in the fun! Wherever you are, whatever you do, make sure you do something funny for money and change countless lives for the better.
T-Shirts & Noses
It’s time to pick your Nose and pull on your T-shirts because Red Nose Day is back and it’s never looked so good.
The monster cool trio of Noses are available at Sainsbury’s and Oxfam shops and the Vivienne Westwood designed T-shirts are ready and waiting at a TK Maxx near you. Or bag them in our online store right now.
Desert Trek
A team of intrepid celebrities – including Dermot O’Leary, Lorraine Kelly and Scott Mills – is about to embark on a gruelling physical challenge that will test them to the limit. They’ll tackle some of the planet’s toughest terrain in the scorching sun as they cross a remote Kenyan desert – but can they take the heat?
iPhone
If you’ve got an iPhone, you’re in for a treat. Our brand new, totally free and completely brilliant Red Nose Day In Your Pocket iPhone app is now available to download.
From access to exclusive iTunes content, games and celeb features to all the latest Red Nose Day news and videos. It’s all there, all in your pocket. Hence the name.
Get Your Red Nose
Cameron defends Big Society policy
Article by The Independent online
David Cameron has fought back against accusations that his vision of the Big Society is simply a “cover” for Government spending cuts.
Writing in The Observer, the Prime Minister said that his initiative to hand power to local communities and voluntary organisations was intended to change the way Britain was run.
He acknowledged however that at a time of spending restraint, it would benefit society if people were prepared to volunteer more.
Building a stronger, bigger society is something we should try and do whether spending is going up or down,” he said.
“But there is a broader point to be made. As the state spends less and does less – which would be happening whichever party was in government – there would be a positive benefit if some parts of society were to step forward and do more.
Read More Here
More effective responses to anti-social behaviour – a consultation
Public and partners are invited to comment online on the propositions in this consultation, which intends to reform the toolkit to tackle anti-social behaviour.
About the consultation
This consultation asks for your opinions on government plans to streamline the toolkit used to tackle anti-social behaviour, so that the police and partners have faster, more flexible tools. These, plus more effective sanctions, will help professionals and, where necessary the courts, stop anti-social behaviour earlier, and better protect victims and communities.
The proposals include:
- repealing the ASBO and other court orders and replacing them with two new tools that bring together restrictions on future behaviour and support to address underlying problems
- ensuring there are powerful incentives on perpetrators to stop behaving anti-socially
- bringing together many of the existing tools for dealing with place-specific anti-social behaviour
- bringing together existing police dispersal powers for anti-social behaviour into a single police power
- making the informal and out-of-court tools for dealing with anti-social behaviour more rehabilitative and restorative
- introducing a Community Trigger that gives victims and communities the right to require agencies to deal with persistent anti-social behaviour. Read more here
Beauty and The Beast on Channel 4
Channel 4
Currently watching the new series on Channel 4 called Beauty and The Beast: Ugly face of prejudice, and I find it somewhat educational but at the same time I feel that these people are being paraded on national TV, but then it’s there choice, I hope people can the the Beauty behind these people’s disfigurements and see the real person and not the “Beast” as Channel 4 calls them.
I don’t have a face disfigurement, but do have a speech impairment Cleft Palate and I am very concious about this and have faced the discrimination of society, name calling and bullying etc
This series investigates the extremes of discrimination by bringing together two people often defined by the way they look: one has a facial disfigurement, the other an intense preoccupation with their appearance Click here for Channel 4 website.
Series Summary
We live in a society obsessed with physical perfection, surrounded by images of unattainable beauty. Nine out of ten women in Britain are unhappy with their appearance, over half would resort to surgery to change it, and nearly three quarters of Brits think that being better looking would make them more successful. Read More
Leo and Yasmin
Burns survivor Leo meets self-proclaimed beauty addict Yasmin.
When 59-year-old Leo from County Durham was 14, a fire at the shop he worked in left him with third-degree burns to his hands, face and legs. Leo survived the fire, but has since undergone over 120 different operations to rectify the damage and has been left with significant scarring. He is fiercely against the use of plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes and believes that women in particular are pressurised to attempt to emulate the physical perfection seen in the media.
Leo meets beauty addict Yasmin, who spends 40 days a year doing her make up and would rather be vain than ugly. Yasmin is desperate to have breast surgery and would also like liposuction. Read More
Sarah and Susan
Sarah claims to be Britain’s most cosmetically enhanced woman. She meets Susan, who has had over 60 corrective surgeries due to childhood cancer.
Susan and Sarah are two outgoing and passionate people with very different views on beauty and the beauty industry. Fifty-year-old Sarah says she would try any treatment to turn back the body clock. From breast augmentation to rhinoplasty, this self-proclaimed ‘vain cow’ jokes that the only thing she has not had done is her feet.
Sarah freely admits she would like to go to the grave looking 18. She is terrified of ageing and evangelical about the benefits of cosmetic surgery. She even carries cosmetic fillers in her handbag so she can inject herself when ever she feels that her face `needs a top up’. Read More
Andy and Elicia
Andy Tedder, who has Treacher Collins syndrome, meets Manchester beauty queen Elicia Davies.
As the reigning Miss Manchester, 23-year-old Elicia is totally dependent on makeup, taking up to three hours every morning putting it on. Elicia thinks nothing of spending the majority of her salary on her appearance.
Andy tries to persuade beauty queen Elicia Davies that beauty really is more than skin deep. A Landscape gardener from Bournemouth, Andy has Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic condition that affects 1 in 10,000 people. The condition stopped his facial bones developing in the womb, as well as his ears. Andy has had to endure years of painful reconstructive surgery and taunts from the public. Read More
Visit Changing Faces Website Here
Crime Maps
Crime Maps Will Make Police More Accountable
Sky News Carole Erskine, Sky News Online
Detailed crime maps for England and Wales are being published by the Home Office – the first time anywhere in the world such information has been released.
The maps also detail which police officers are responsible for their area.
Home Secretary Theresa May has said they will give people the information they need to hold their local police to account and help bring down crime.
Crime trends will also be established as the site develops and this could be extended to include details on the outcomes of court cases in the future.
Check the crime in your area here then enter your post code
Public Data Corporation & The Transparent Government
Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude and Business Minister Edward Davey have outlined plans for a new Public Data Corporation.
The Corporation will, for the first time, bring together Government bodies and data into one organisation and provide an unprecedented level of easily accessible public information and drive further efficiency in the delivery of public services.
Supporting the Government’s growth agenda, it will open up opportunities for innovative developers, businesses and members of the public to generate social and economic growth through the use of data.
To check out the Transparent Government Click here
My Mums 70th
Maureen Clifford 70th
Today would be my mums 70th here on earth, but she is up in heaven so will be celebrating it with my Nana and Grandad and other family members, I will celebrate her 70th in my own special way, me and my partner Dean went to her grave and put cards and flowers on for the sort of special day, her final resting place looks so much nicer with the white stones and having it in the right place, put some nice photos on here today also, so with a cuppa tea I will toast your 70th and your passing.
Love
Wayne
XXXX
Holograms Of Staff To Help Airport Security
We are moving more and more into the world of cyber technology with the installation of Hologram staff at Manchester Airport see Sky News
Passengers at Manchester Airport will be greeted by holograms of staff from next week in a bid to reduce security check queues.
The images of the customer service workers were created using the same cutting edge technology which is used in the music industry by bands such as the Gorillaz.
It is being trialled at terminal one where passengers are being met by holograms of real-life employees John Walsh and Julie Capper. Read full story here
Big Fat Gypsy Wedding
But where does it come from My Big Gypsy Wedding
An awful lot of Tarmac! We reveal the £140,000 cost of those Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (just don’t ask where the cash comes from)
A Royal wedding may only be three months away, but it’s another type that has the nation gripped — the big fat gypsy variety. Channel 4 has the Irish travelling community to thank for their highest viewing figures in three years. Every Tuesday night seven million people are tuning in to gawp in disbelief as travellers are shown celebrating their marriages in their own unique and colourful way on Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.
As the programme shows, the gypsy wedding is a world where subtlety is banned and big and bling is always better.