We can't say we weren't warned. For months now Carmarthenshire County Council has been softening us up in preparation for sweeping cuts in spending on public services. The chief executive has thundered down at us from his pulpit in the Carmarthen Journal, and Kevin Madge has spoken of "cuts of biblical proportions".
The council launched a public consultation with a PR event in the Ffwrnes Theatre in Llanelli, and followed that with a formal consultation which ran from 19 November to 3 January. According to the Journal this week, the council has received over a thousand responses from the public.
Part way through this exercise people became concerned about one of the published proposals to make cuts to the provision of respite care for disabled children. The council was quick to respond, saying that these were only proposals. Nothing to worry about. Move on.
In theory the council will now sift through the responses and use them to formulate a draft budget in February.
In reality, it seems that choices had already been made long before the "consultation" actually began.
The consultation document says that one option will be to bring forward "closure of either the Glanmarlais or Tegfan residential care homes [in Llandybie and Ammanford, ed]. This is part of the new extra care development and providing alternative accommodation through use of spare capacity and as part of our investment programme in newer, more modern and up to date facilities- £1.7 million.”
The council launched a public consultation with a PR event in the Ffwrnes Theatre in Llanelli, and followed that with a formal consultation which ran from 19 November to 3 January. According to the Journal this week, the council has received over a thousand responses from the public.
Part way through this exercise people became concerned about one of the published proposals to make cuts to the provision of respite care for disabled children. The council was quick to respond, saying that these were only proposals. Nothing to worry about. Move on.
In theory the council will now sift through the responses and use them to formulate a draft budget in February.
In reality, it seems that choices had already been made long before the "consultation" actually began.
The consultation document says that one option will be to bring forward "closure of either the Glanmarlais or Tegfan residential care homes [in Llandybie and Ammanford, ed]. This is part of the new extra care development and providing alternative accommodation through use of spare capacity and as part of our investment programme in newer, more modern and up to date facilities- £1.7 million.”
Bear in mind that this was, to quote the council, only a proposal, and that the Executive Board has not yet met to discuss the outcome of the consultation or approve the draft budget.
Strange, then, that the council's planning committee should meet last week to approve detailed plans for the construction of 50 'state of the art' supported living apartments in Ammanford (i.e. the new extra care development referred to in the consultation document). Here is a report from the South Wales Guardian.
The article quotes a spokesperson for the council saying that approval for the scheme "will bring forward the planned closure of either Tegfan or Glanmarlais residential homes."
Those who opposed closure of Tegfan or Glanmarlais may be left wondering what the point of the consultation was, and the council has probably left itself open to judicial review from anyone who has a family member in either of the two doomed homes.
Next up, the strange case of the rapidly shrinking cost of producing the Carmarthenshire News.
The article quotes a spokesperson for the council saying that approval for the scheme "will bring forward the planned closure of either Tegfan or Glanmarlais residential homes."
Those who opposed closure of Tegfan or Glanmarlais may be left wondering what the point of the consultation was, and the council has probably left itself open to judicial review from anyone who has a family member in either of the two doomed homes.
Next up, the strange case of the rapidly shrinking cost of producing the Carmarthenshire News.
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