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News

COME AND SPEND YOUR OWN COUNCIL TAX ...

....(And the currency is lego bricks)

THE COUNCIL is inviting Poole people to come and have a go at spending their own Council Tax this week at the first of a new roadshow style of event.

Entitled ‘All Ears’, the event is designed to get the Council out and about Poole on a regular basis to meet local people and listen to their views on Council services and local issues. Each month Councillors and staff from the Borough of Poole will be visiting a different venue across Poole.

The main theme for this week’s three-day event will be the Council’s budget. A major feature of the ‘All Ears’ event will be a skyline of 27 Lego brick towers to depict the Council’s main services and how much they cost to deliver. Residents will be given their equivalent value of Council Tax in Lego bricks and challenged to decide which services they would like to see more money to be spent on next year and which services they would cut the budget from by placing their bricks against the relevant towers.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Brian Clements, said ‘This year the Council is spending £107million in delivering local services to Poole people and we are now preparing for next year’s budget which sets the Council Tax. It’s vital that our services reflect the needs and views of our residents and this is one way in which we can bring the Council’s budget to life to encourage local people to influence how Council money is spent . Whilst the main challenge for players is to choose their priorities for spending, they will also be given opportunity to make savings. We hope it will inspire some good discussion and increase local awareness to the range of services that we provide and how much they cost.’

Chair of the Community Information & Support Policy Advisory Group, Cllr Chand Ewart said; ‘Research has shown that our residents would like to see the Council out and about more rather than being remote at the Civic Centre. This is a good first step to modernise the way that the Council communicates and gain valuable feedback from local people on what is important to them.’

Other topics for discussion at the ‘All Ears’ event will be:

· The Council’s Draft Best Value Performance Plan which sets out the Council’s targets for improving services for next year (April 2001-March 2002) and is currently the subject of public consultation.

· An overview of Social Services in Poole

Catherine Corbin, Marketing Officer