Councils urged to avoid cost-cutting

08 October 2008

Local authorities must not succumb to current economic pressures and should avoid using an efficiency-saving agenda as an excuse to cut costs, according to a public sector consultant.

Noel Foley, a procurement and efficiency consultant, was speaking at the ‘More for less highways efficiency’ conference, organised by localgov.co.uk sister title Surveyor magazine last week.

He said: ‘Local authorities are facing huge economic pressures at the moment, and there is a fear that they might go for the easy option of cutting budgets.

‘They still have to look for efficiencies and need to work with suppliers for this. It is about maintaining strong relationship with suppliers which will nurture them through a down-time.’

He cites the recession of 1988-1995 as a time when local authorities looked for the cheapest prices and paid for this through receiving poor-quality services and deficient works.

‘Councils need to look at the whole-life cost – not just think in terms of a one-off cost of building something, but how much it will cost to maintain it,’ he said.

‘Whole-life cost is in its infancy, and is a developing science, so guidance here would be helpful.’ Foley argues that there is a lack of national co-ordinated support in areas of construction and highways, but believes this is where the Highways Agency Efficiency Liaison Group (HELG) and the Efficiency Toolkit help play an advisory role.

Roger Elphick, acting environment director, Durham County Council, agreed local authorities were under pressure. ‘There is a big dilemma for every local authority in balancing its budget. ‘Ideally we should look at whole-life costing, but this means putting more money into maintenance, and that currently just isn’t there,’ he said.

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