Council budgets are getting tighter - but now, Unison has warned local authorities are at risk of falling short of meeting their legal minimum of care in the next twelve months. Should more be done to safeguard councils and their services? We took to the streets in a city near you to find out what some of you think can be done.
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00:00 I've been in the car today, there are so many potholes in the roads.
00:06 Yes, I think councils definitely do need more money, you know, we need to need upkeep for
00:12 our towns and cities and roads especially, which often looking rather neglected.
00:18 Coming from a small community I think that the council is really important because they
00:22 kind of work towards a smaller community that may not have the chance to reach out to other
00:29 people.
00:30 Yeah, for sure.
00:31 So it's really important that they have the funding in the first place to be able to do
00:33 things like that.
00:34 But then again I think it's up to the council to do their budget properly because some of
00:38 them I think they're just putting money on stupid things, not prioritising, they're just
00:43 doing other stupid things at the moment.
00:46 I mean I know there's a lot of bakers, there's a lot of bakers, but half the bakers don't
00:49 even get used.
00:50 What's been described as a black hole when it comes to local council budgets is widening
00:55 according to experts.
00:57 The average council now faces a £33 million predicted deficit by 2025 to 2026, which constitutes
01:04 an increase of a whopping 60% in the last two years alone when it stood at £20 million.
01:11 While the government has said local authority budgets for next year are yet to be decided
01:15 upon, Mike Short, Unison's head of local government, said town halls were in the direst of states.
01:21 Birmingham council are not that impressed with the way that they handle the money that
01:24 they get given.
01:25 I mean especially when the games were coming up into the city, I didn't think there was
01:29 money was supposed to be designated for certain things for the community rather than in the
01:33 city itself and I think there should be more at grassroots for the community to get involved.
01:39 Yeah I mean I think services have got to be safeguards for the public.
01:43 I mean some of them are absolutely vital and people really depend on them, you know, it's
01:48 their lifeblood, it's the council services.
01:51 But to be honest, I worked for the council in the past for many, many more years than
01:56 I care to remember, but I think to be honest the council, the recent councils, have been
02:02 the worst we've ever had.
02:04 The mismanagement that's gone on within the council, costing the city not just like hundreds
02:10 of pounds but millions of pounds.
02:13 I think they should be done away with altogether, put some new blood in there.
02:20 They spend a fortune on temple meads and then they abandon it and cost millions.
02:27 I think councils should be doing more to bring in money themselves.
02:31 I think they should stop giving themselves such a big pat on the back.
02:35 I think the top brass should earn less.
02:39 I think there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
02:42 It's always good when the councils get more budget from the government and I think that
02:46 would always be a good thing, but I just don't know in terms of who's holding the pennies
02:50 kind of thing.
02:51 Because obviously everyone wants more, the health service will always want more, the
02:54 education will always want more.
02:56 So yes, it should happen, but I just don't know what the budget allows kind of thing.
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