Councils' bid to share services axed after defeat (From Bucks Free Press)
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Buckinghamshire councils' bid to share services through Pathfinder scheme axed after defeat
10:09am Friday 22nd January 2010 in News By Oliver Evans
Wycombe District Council's offices in High Wycombe
THE first stage of an ambitious project for public authorities to share office services to share cash has been axed after a council withdrew last night.
The support services part of the Pathfinder project has been pulled – and a councillor who wanted it to go ahead says frontline services must not suffer to find savings.
Four councils and a fire authority had discussed sharing finance, information technology and human resources.
But Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire and Rescue Service pulled out last week with Aylesbury Vale District Council following on Monday.
Wycombe District Council withdrew last night (see link, bottom of story).
This left Buckinghamshire County Council and South Bucks District Council – and they said tendering rules meant it could now not go ahead.
South Bucks leader Councillor Adrian Busby today said he was ‘disappointed’ with the three’s decision.
He said: “When we started this project the aim was to make savings and this will now be made much more challenging.”
And he warned: “We would rather try to achieve efficiencies in the back office than be forced to make cuts to front line services because we’ve failed to look for those efficiencies.”
He pledged to look at alternatives to make the savings and said: “We owe it to our ratepayers to do this.”
The aim was to work with a private firm to share services.
Farmer Pickles says...
12:03pm Fri 22 Jan 10
They rejected a unitary authority in favour of the less efficient pathfinder option but have now defaulted back to the totally inefficient old system.
A well run and progressive unitary authority, underpinned by a solid network of town and parish councils would reduce administration costs, allow more money to be spent on front line services and strengthen local democracy.
With the neanderthal Bucks Tories in charge the idea of anything being progressive, well run or efficient is nothing but a distant dream!!