Quirky spending cuts - our top ten
Some of the strangest spending cuts in the South of England...
At Number One it has to be Southampton City Council saving 10 grand by not binning the bins, or as they put it: "keeping slightly damaged refuse collection containers."
Dorset County Council's big streetlight switch-off is at Number Two. It saves a mammoth £150,000 from the electricity bill, but will there be more accidents?
Saving pounds by spending a penny - at Number Three it's the Isle of Wight Council's plan to hand over 18 of its 60 public conveniences to volunteers.
Where there's muck - Portsmouth is saving £5,000 a year at Number Four by not fertilising sports pitches.
At Number Five Oxford City Council is asking people who use bowling greens to do the mowing themselves.
And Reading has two grass related cuts - at Number Six they've reduced the trimming of roadside verges from 10 to five times a year to save £80,000.
At Number Seven they're saving £35,000 replacing seasonal bedding with low-maintenance shrubs or grass.
Worthing Council has hit a snag with Number Eight. Passing on the management costs of sponsoring roundabouts has cut their income - doh!
But surely the quirkiest quirky cut - at Number Nine Southampton crematoriums aiming to save £30,000 by "using gas more efficiently"...
...Well, you can't take it with you.
and Number Ten?
Sorry, we're having to make efficiency savings. Please add your own Number Ten below...
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~41~RS~)
Welcome to the hustings! I'm Peter Henley, the BBC's political reporter in the south of England. From parish councils in Sussex, to European politics in Oxford, this is the blog for you.
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I suspect West Berks will continue to save a small fortune by not ever bothering to fill any pothole. It'll not be a big change, since they've not filled any pothole in the last ten years.
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Number seven is actually rather sensible. I approve. A pat on the back from Worzel for whoever thought of that.
Of course the one cut that doesn't seem to on the agenda at the moment, is reducing the number of layers of bureaucracy.
I currently have Town Councillors, Borough Councillors and County Councillors representing me. I'd much rather have one set of Councillors representing me in a Unitary Authority...!
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I like number five, and number ten! This is part of the big society, Peter - you getting us to do your work!
If by "quirky" cuts you mean unexpected, or unbelievable, then my vote goes to the aircraft carrier situation. What on earth is the point of building these new ships but not ordering the planes to go on them? And getting rid of the harriers absolutely mutilates our remaining "flagship."
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Perhaps the biggest problem with cutting the Ark Royal and the Harriers is that as Brits, we were rather proud of both. Seeing them scrapped is a bit of a kick in the teeth and makes us feel bad about the UK.
Wouldn't be so bad if there was something as good or better to replace it and the Harriers and the Harrier Carrier were just being phased out...
But never mind, we can always borrow an Aircraft Carrier off the French if we need one...
Napoleon would have loved it...!
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I do not see an alternative way of contacting Peter Henley, so this must be the only one.
You asked people to give up heating allowances and their bus passes. To my way of thinking both should never have been given to people under 70, but that was part of Gordon Brown's way of throwing money away, which he consistantly did whilst Chancellor and as Prime Minister.
I would willingly give up say half of my heating allowance, and pay say 50pence per journey on a bus. IF all the people who get child allowance and do not really need it gave that up. Those earning over £50,000 jointly really should not require this benefit. Then we have cars for the disabled. Why do they not pay an economical amount for their benefit.
Travel, All MPs to travel 2nd class on the railways. Get rid of Ministerial cars, get a taxi. Councilors, to give up all payments except what it costs to get to meetings, and only the bus fare to be charged, even if they use a car. Their choice.
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Thanks for your comments, Wanderer. MPs have started wearing hairier shorts - First Class travel is no longer paid by the taxpayer, but I'm not sure we'd want to meet taxi bills for the longer journeys that ministerial cars make.
Some councils are cutting back on mileage payments for councillors and staff - for some it was seen as an allowance rather than re-imbursement, and that certainly is a slippery slope.
As to your ideas for welfare reform, I wonder whether they could have run more of a consultation, or whether people would have believed that it really was a consultation. If people are going to accept the changes that are surely coming then they need to be fully aware of what the options are. The £140 flat rate for pensioners being floated today is surely part of that national discussion that we need, there are plenty of ideas like yours out there.
Thanks again for your comments which reached me on the train back from Strasbourg (see above) This is one way of reaching me but do feel free to try Twitter @peter_henley or for longer thoughts politicshowsouth@bbc.co.uk.
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