Due to essential maintenance, the website will be unavailable from 8-8:30am on Monday 28 May. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Letter from Cllr Paul Bell, Deputy Leader, Wellingborough Council
Published Friday 28th January 11
A response to the articles published in the Evening Telegraph on 27 January 2011 regarding Wellingborough Council's savings proposals and budget consultation.
I am disappointed and angry that it has been reported that Wellingborough Council intended to keep the public in the dark about job losses and cuts to services ('How council tried to keep quiet over 100 job losses', plus Opinion 'Shame on the secret council', January 27). This is a completely false accusation as we have always been open and honest about the financial challenges we are facing. A list of proposals to save an additional £1.4m and the impact these proposals may have was always intended to be made public. The information was written up and ready to go into the public domain, as Evening Telegraph journalists were well aware because they had been given that information, embargoed until Thursday 27 January. So it is simply untrue that it was only because it was raised at Tuesday's council meeting that the ET "was able to tell you today that around 100 jobs are to be axed and funding for community services and facilities cut." We only asked that the information was kept confidential until Thursday so that affected employees could be informed first.
The Mayor of Wellingborough, as chairman of Tuesday evening's meeting, asked that the matter not be discussed at that time because she was aware of the responsibility we have to our employees. The majority of the council's workforce were told on Wednesday that they are at risk of redundancy and this is obviously devastating news. These employee briefings had been arranged a week ago and it was always the intention to tell employees on Wednesday and the public on Thursday. It is only fair and right that employees, who have given a great number of years of dedicated service to the borough, be informed of the full picture before the information becomes public.
As planned, we are conducting a public consultation on the savings proposals and we welcome people's views. These are extremely difficult decisions we are making but we have to balance the budget. We are encouraging people to tell us what they think of the proposals, or suggest alternative ways we can save £1.4m, and more information can be found on our website www.wellingborough.gov.uk or from the council offices.
I would like to reiterate most strongly that we do not, and never will, attempt to keep information that affects the public secret.
Cllr Paul Bell
Deputy Leader
Borough Council of Wellingborough