00:00 I've been in the car today, there are so many potholes in the roads.
00:06 Yes, I think councils definitely do need more money, you know, we need to need upkeep for
00:12 our towns and cities and roads especially, which often looking rather neglected.
00:18 Coming from a small community I think that the council is really important because they
00:22 kind of work towards a smaller community that may not have the chance to reach out to other
00:29 people.
00:30 Yeah, for sure.
00:31 So it's really important that they have the funding in the first place to be able to do
00:33 things like that.
00:34 But then again I think it's up to the council to do their budget properly because some of
00:38 them I think they're just putting money on stupid things, not prioritising, they're just
00:43 doing other stupid things at the moment.
00:46 I mean I know there's a lot of bakers, there's a lot of bakers, but half the bakers don't
00:49 even get used.
00:50 What's been described as a black hole when it comes to local council budgets is widening
00:55 according to experts.
00:57 The average council now faces a £33 million predicted deficit by 2025 to 2026, which constitutes
01:04 an increase of a whopping 60% in the last two years alone when it stood at £20 million.
01:11 While the government has said local authority budgets for next year are yet to be decided
01:15 upon, Mike Short, Unison's head of local government, said town halls were in the direst of states.
01:21 Birmingham council are not that impressed with the way that they handle the money that
01:24 they get given.
01:25 I mean especially when the games were coming up into the city, I didn't think there was
01:29 money was supposed to be designated for certain things for the community rather than in the
01:33 city itself and I think there should be more at grassroots for the community to get involved.
01:39 Yeah I mean I think services have got to be safeguards for the public.
01:43 I mean some of them are absolutely vital and people really depend on them, you know, it's
01:48 their lifeblood, it's the council services.
01:51 But to be honest, I worked for the council in the past for many, many more years than
01:56 I care to remember, but I think to be honest the council, the recent councils, have been
02:02 the worst we've ever had.
02:04 The mismanagement that's gone on within the council, costing the city not just like hundreds
02:10 of pounds but millions of pounds.
02:13 I think they should be done away with altogether, put some new blood in there.
02:20 They spend a fortune on temple meads and then they abandon it and cost millions.
02:27 I think councils should be doing more to bring in money themselves.
02:31 I think they should stop giving themselves such a big pat on the back.
02:35 I think the top brass should earn less.
02:39 I think there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
02:42 It's always good when the councils get more budget from the government and I think that
02:46 would always be a good thing, but I just don't know in terms of who's holding the pennies
02:50 kind of thing.
02:51 Because obviously everyone wants more, the health service will always want more, the
02:54 education will always want more.
02:56 So yes, it should happen, but I just don't know what the budget allows kind of thing.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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