On Tuesday June 15, Councillor Lindsay Whittle, leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, made his annual Cabinet Work Programme speech – which outlines his vision for the forthcoming year.
Below is the full speech.
“We are facing challenging times and indeed, the council is going to be making many changes over the next few years. Already one significant change is the position of chief executive who will be leaving us by the end of 2010.
“This is obviously not the appropriate time to make personal tributes to him suffice to say he has helped position this organisation as a sound financial council, with his directors he has delivered last year’s budget in line with our spending plans and therefore allowed the authority to approach this most difficult period with our head above the water.
“Last year we brought forward our three-year plan for improving services and our priorities for building better communities for all has not altered despite the financial climate. Our key projects and actions remain in place.
“Our strength we believe lies in concentrating on delivering the services the public need and want. However, I fear we must recognise the Chancellor’s budget statement next week will probably bring further constraints to our plans. Our measures for dealing with this were clearly laid out in our budget plans and the key components include: –
“We have, in just over a year, a brand new hospital opening in the heart of the area and with it new jobs for local people. We have to make sure we maximise the opportunities Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr will bring to the county borough.
“We have to be bold and recognise that some of the things we are doing now we will not be doing in two years time.
“We also need to be brave and recognise externalising services may not always be a bad thing to do. Sometimes it will be about making sure jobs stay in this county borough rather than getting into debate about who should run the service.
“I think we are ready for challenges that lie ahead of us; we have the best assets working with us – our employees. On behalf of the cabinet you can see we have met the majority of last year’s key issues in the plan and we will continue to strive for successes in this year despite, the gloom of financial difficulties that are continuing.”