“We are open-minded about whether we want a one- off receipt for selling or an ongoing revenue stream.” Either way, bonus cash coming in will help, if not loosen the belt, then certainly stop the ever-tightening grip of central government cutting funds to local authorities. Cllr James has witnessed much of that change since first being elected to his Longlevens seat more than 20 years ago. “When I was first elected in 1996, there were 900 employees, but it’s difficult to make a comparison as a lot has been outsourced since then,” he said. “Street care, refuse and parks are outsourced to Amey, while Civica look after our IT, revenues and benefits.The leisure centre and tennis centre are now operated by Aspire.
“We also share our legal function with Cheltenham and Tewkesbury and there are other shared services, so we can’t really make a direct comparison. “But we have trimmed down in response to getting less funding from central government and our management structure is a lot leaner than it was. “I am not sure how common it is for a district and a county council to share space, in a lot of places they are based in different towns or cities anyway. “But Gloucester had two lots of council offices and employees separated by 100 yards and that doesn’t look sensible to someone looking in. “There is a drive from central government to share the public sector estate where it is appropriate and this is one of those cases" l
96 | February 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com
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