Council Office accommodation

When faced such draconian cuts to Local Authority central funding it is in my opinion the responsibility of Councils to do everything possible to generate income and reduce costs in order to maintain customer service. This requires a complete overhaul of custom and practice in order to get what I euphemistically say is 'more for less'. For the past year I have personally been engaged with officers in streamlining the whole democratic process including numbers of meetings and a reduction in duplication in order to get to a more efficient process for delivering service and outcomes to the community. I am pleased to say that the new structure and timing system is contributing to a more efficient CBC. Not that we should stop there! In all areas consideration is being given to how we can do things better for our residents and our staff in the relentless pursuit of financial savings. Our partnership with East Dorset is a classic example of how by lateral thinking we can bring more savings to the table. As such a review is under way as to how best we can operate and use our assets especially those in the built form. To this end the Chief Executive is quite rightly engaged in reviewing whether or not the current office arrangement is fit for purpose and whether there is a better way of housing, locating our staff with the objective of giving a better more efficient service to our communities. What is not negotiable is the resident’s access to a one stop shop system, which we Conservatives introduced some years ago located in a town centre location. Also the Civic facilities including the all the historic attributes which are so important to the fabric of the great place called Christchurch. Our Mayoralty is a non negotiable also as is our quest to expand the importance of this role continues. So if the 'head in the sand' Victor Meldew' cynics bend your ear as to what is happening to the Council Offices, just remember this Council is seeking every opportunity to make Christchurch a better place run by a cost effective and efficient Council.