40pMonday, April 9, 2012

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Reporting local life since 1854

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SEEBAC KPAG E

£381k is spenton empty sitesHUNDREDS of thousands ofpounds is being spent to helpprotect disused councilbu i l d i n g s.

Stoke-on-Trent City Councilrevealed security costs h aveincreased significantly overthe last four years.

In 2011/12, the bill came to£381,000.

It follows a decision to closef acilities to save money.See Page 4

Water bill rowmay shut pubA PUB owner fears he couldhave to close after beinglanded with a huge water bill.

Glen Geldard, from TheChesters pub, in Chesterton,owes £6,700 to Severn TrentWater and has been told thesupplies could be cut off t o d ay.

It follows a long-runningbattle to get the watercompany to fix two leakingunderground service pipes.See Page 5

COUNCILTO CHASE£8m DEBT

Taxpayers failed to pay for services

Plan to rip outchurch gravesCHURCH leaders h aveunveiled plans to take uphundreds of gravestones toimprove the entrance andg rounds.

The project, costing almost£200,000, would see an oldmound at St Giles’ Church, inNewcastle, flattened and somegravestones repositioned tocreate a striking domino-effect feature.See Page 15

BY ALEX CAMPBELLalex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk

TAXPAYERS oweStoke-on-T rentCity Council £8.6million after fail-ing to pay for ahost of servicesover a 15 year period.

The authority is now tryingto claw back millions of poundsin minor debts from thousandsof people across the city.

Much of this money is owedafter the authority allowed res-idents to use services withoutsettling the bill until later.

Now new policies have beenintroduced, forcing them to payupfront “wherever possible”.

The sundry debts cover arange of items from allotments,skip hire, use of sports facil-ities, room hire, licensing feesand planning costs, com -mercial rent, market rentand collecting rubbishfrom businesses.

Details of the bill we rerevealed just weeks afterthe Labour-run councilconfirmed budget cuts of£24 million for 2012/13, following city-

wide cuts of £35.6 million lastyear. Councillor Abi Brown,Conservative group leader, pic-tured below, said: “We havegot to make sure the city coun-cil is run like a business.

“There are still serviceswhere charges are not beingmade up front. I just hope thecouncil has learned its lesson.”

The council has begun theprocess of selling off a packageof rent, tax and other debts to adebt collection agency in a last-ditch attempt to reclaim them.

But millions of pounds isexpected to be written off bythe cabinet later this year.

Terry Cope, chairman ofGreenfields Residents’ Associ-ation in Tunstall, said: “It justshows the level of incompet-ence there has been. Consid-ering they are making cuts all

across the city, it’s no won-der people call us Joke-

on-T rent.”The debts have been

amassed in the yearssince Stoke-on-Trentgained unitary statusin 1997. The councilwas unable to say

who owed the mostmoney. Councillor

Sarah Hill, cabinet member forfinance, said: “It’s now abouthow we manage it from here onin. We have got to be muchmore savvy about what weexpect of people.”

The council said collectionrates for the debts are improv-ing after changes in policy.

Measures will also includeallowing people to pay for moreservices by phone or online.

The authority reclaimed 91per cent of sundry debts raisedin 2011/12, up from 89 per cent ayear earlier.

Officials admitted the coun-cil’s previous charging policiesfailed – and at its worst theamount owed hit £12 million.

A council spokesman said: “Arecent review has changed ourprocesses to charge in advanceor at the point of service deliv-ery, wherever possible, ratherthan after the event, thus guar-anteeing collection.

“The council recognises thatprompt income collection isvital for ensuring the authorityhas the resources it needs todeliver its services.”

What do you think ? Email usat letters@thesentinel.co.uk

NO OLD PALS’ ACT FOR HORTON

CROUCHIE FORENGL AND? SEE

BAC KPAG E

Plane terror over theAlps: See Page 3