About Sue
Susan Saddington was elected to represent the newly created Farndon & Muskham division in May 2005 and was re-elected in June 2009. She has also represented the Muskham ward on Newark & Sherwood District Council since 1999.
She is married to Barry and has a daughter, Caroline, and a grandson, William.
Susan is available to meet constituents at any mutually convenient time at a suitable venue. Her contact details are displayed on the left of this page.
Sue's latest Councillors' Divisional Fund awards...
Each Nottinghamshire County Councillor now has an annual fund of £10,000 to support worthy initiatives in the division they represent. The Councillors' Divisional Fund aims to make use of each councillor's 'grass roots' knowledge to identify projects, events, people and clubs that work hard to benefit and promote their local area, but often lack access to resources. Even a small amount of funding can sometimes make a huge difference.
If you know of a deserving initiative in the Farndon & Muskham division that might be eligible to receive a CDF grant, please contact me. You can click the following link to read the eligibility guidance criteria.
Follow this link to the Councillors' Divisional Fund web page to see some of the latest projects I have been able to support.
Sue's latest news...
Council plans to adopt a committee system
Pending approval at the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 17th May 2012, Nottinghamshire County Council plans to exercise its new power under the Localism Act 2011 to adopt a committee system of decision-making. This will replace the current Leader and Cabinet model adopted under the Local Government Act 2000.
The rationale for a committee system is that it is the most democratic and transparent form of governance. It ensures all 67 democratically elected Councillors are able to fully participate in decision-making and shaping the policy of the Council. It ensures greater transparency in that all reports are publicly available prior to any decision being made, and all decision-making meetings are held in public.
Reports were taken to the Full Council meetings in January and March (Item 11), with final approval being sought, as stated above, in May.
(Posted 17/4/2012)
Council tax frozen again in 2012/13
At the Nottinghamshire County Council budget meeting on 23rd February it was agreed to freeze county council tax for a third consecutive year. With public finances under strain across the country, the council has saved £87 million so far, £44 million of which has been reinvested directly into frontline services. In the coming financial year we will spend: -
- £2.8 million more safeguarding children;
- £5.2 million more on care for older people;
- £2.7 million more on adults with mental health & learning disabilities;
- £1.4 million more on adults with physical disabilities; and
- £1 million more to support young carers.
We are also committed to invest £289 million in capital over three years on:-
- Improving school buildings;
- Modernising day centres;
- New youth clubs;
- Improving libraries;
- Improved broadband services;
- Improved roads and pathways;
- New and improved bus stations.
Councillor Reg Adair is the council's Cabinet Member for Finance & Property. In his speech presenting the budget, he outlined the results of the council's budget consultation. In response to public feedback, we are: -
- providing additional library opening hours at 15 locations across the county;
- holding Meals at Home charges at £3.95 for 2012/13; and
- not increasing charges for Blue Badge holders in 2012/13, unlike many other local authorities.
(Posted 28/2/2012)
£2.5 million boost for Supporting People
Despite local budget pressures and a reduced grant from central Government, Nottinghamshire County Council has invested an extra £2.5 million in its Supporting People programme.
Supporting People is a national programme that provides housing related support to help vulnerable people live independently. It will see its Government grant in Nottinghamshire reduced to £17.6 million this year, threatening the County Council’s previous year’s Supporting People spend of £22.5 million.
However, thanks to a new £1.5 million investment from the local NHS, plus a further £1 million diverted from the County Council budget, the Government’s allocation has been given a vital boost in Nottinghamshire. This limits the reduction in the County’s Supporting People budget to just over 10%, from £22.5 million to £20.11 million. The restricted budget reduction has also been made possible by the County Council’s decision early this year, following public consultation, to keep its savings on Supporting People to £10 million over the next three years rather than two higher reduction options of £12.5 million and £15 million.
These funding measures support feedback gained from a second, two-month public consultation on Supporting People services this year (in Feb/March), to form new proposals which went before Full Council on 30th June 2011. These proposals ensure that:-
- Most accommodation based services continue to be funded, albeit at reduced levels;
- ‘Floating support’ services, which offer support to people in their own homes, will be delivered consistently across issues of homelessness prevention and offender, drug and alcohol, gypsy and traveller and young people’s services;
- Mental health services are reviewed and delivered more efficiently;
- Young people’s services are reviewed for greater efficiency;
- Community alarm and warden services for older people are replaced with a new short term service targeted at helping vulnerable people to remain independent in their own homes.
We’ve talked to those who use the services, to our District Council partners, to project providers and voluntary and community groups, including church leaders, to find ways to make savings through efficiencies. We will target the money at front line services that meet the needs of those who are most vulnerable and in greatest need.
Nottinghamshire was successful in securing Government money under Supporting People when the programme first started eight years ago but we’ve seen this central funding steadily fall by nearly £11 million since that time. We believe that after the £10 million savings have been made, the level of funding in Nottinghamshire for these services will still compare well with other Council areas.
(Posted 20/7/2011)
More grass cuts
Nottinghamshire County Council is increasing the number of times it will be cutting grass verges this year.
As part of this year’s budget savings it was originally intended to reduce the frequency of routine grass cutting in urban areas from six to four times a year. However, we have listened to public feedback and have now increased that frequency to five cuts. In rural areas the frequency remains at two cuts a year.
At the same time we have issued guidelines for a growing number of residents who are happy to cut the grass verges outside their homes. Again, this is a direct result of feedback from the Council’s Big Budget Conversation consultation process, when hundreds of people said they would be prepared to cut verges if it helped to release money for use on other priorities, such a repairing potholes.
The guidelines highlight what needs to be considered when cutting grass near the roadside. They can be found online at: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/roadverges
(Posted 14/7/11)
Scrutiny committee leads campaign for utilities companies to pay for poor highway repairs
As reported recently by the Nottingham Post, Councils could be a step closer to greater powers to ensure utility companies who dig up roads pay their fair share of repair costs, following an investigation by Nottinghamshire County Council's Communities & the Environment Scrutiny Committee.
The committee looked into highway maintenance issues in Nottinghamshire and produced a set of recommendations in its final report to Cabinet. Recommendation 6 stated that the Council should:
'Campaign for the development of legislation under which utilities companies must pay for the cost of reducing the lifespan of the highway by trenching work (i.e. pay for each individual site where they trench with an appropriate matrix devised to cover costs of the work according to size, depth, and likely long term effects) – the scheme should operate as an extension to the current two year guarantee scheme.'
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 350 councils, has now taken up the campaign to make sure gas, electric and water firms pay up for poor repairs.
At the Full Council meeting on 19th May 2011 I highlighted the LGA's interest and the Cabinet Member for Transport & Highways, Councillor Richard Jackson agreed it was indeed encouraging that they have responded to the concerns raised.
In his reply to my question, Councillor Jackson stated that the current arrangements for monitoring utility works are too complex and also very demanding on the time input from our limited and ever decreasing resources. He welcomed the LGA's move to investigate ways to give councils "clearer and better defined powers to ensure that our valuable assets are protected from damage".
The LGA is now calling for utility companies to pay a bond or deposit in advance of roadworks to make it easier for councils to recoup the cost of damage caused by inferior repairs, and encourage utilities to get it right first time. It also wants councils to have more powers to say when work is done to reduce disruption.
(Posted 2/6/2011)
Council Budget 2011/12
At the Nottinghamshire County Council Budget Meeting on 24th February 2011 I joined my Conservative colleagues in voting to freeze Council Tax for a second successive year. In doing so, I approved £4.1 million of changes to the Council’s original budget proposals in direct response to the outcomes of the Big Budget Conversation. Extra money has now been found from reserves for the Supporting People programme, grant aid to voluntary groups, libraries, country parks and welfare rights advice.
With less formula grant funding from the Government, Nottinghamshire County Council has to find more than £80 million of savings in 2011/12 by reducing management and administration costs and reviewing expenditure on non-essential services. Just over half of this is being reinvested to meet growing demand for our most vital services, including: -
The budget was approved at the Council meeting by 34 votes to 29.
(Posted 28/2/2011)
Gritter Twitter
Nottinghamshire County Council will now be advising the public of when the county’s roads will be gritted, using Twitter. During the cold weather last winter there were a number of calls to the Council’s Customer Service Centre asking when the roads would be gritted. Now people can sign up to the Council’s Gritter Twitter feed to receive the latest gritting alerts.
In an age of social networking and 24-hour news, the Council recognises the need to give people ‘live’ information that will help them plan their journey. You can sign up to follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nottscc
(Posted 11/11/2010)
Improvement Programme latest
At the full meeting of Nottinghamshire County Council on 21st October I joined my Conservative colleagues in supporting the recommendations for action contained within the Nottinghamshire County Council Improvement Plan Progress Report.
The Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Martin Suthers set out the financial challenges facing local authorities across the country and stated that Nottinghamshire County Council needed to save £150 million over the next three years.
He said this would require savings of £69 million in 2011/12, to be achieved through a series of major initiatives including reprioritisation of services, improvements in business management and a review of property owned by the Council.
Of this £69 million, it is intended to reinvest £39 million largely in services for our most vulnerable service users. The council has faced a 59% increase in children’s social care referrals over the last year and a 25% increase in the number of children in care over the last two years.
For Children and Young People, a proposed reinvestment of £22.5 million will provide:-
Our Adult Social Care & Health services are under similar pressure, with 500 extra people aged over 80 and 4,000 extra people over the age of 65 in Nottinghamshire every year. Our proposed reinvestment of £13 million in 2011/12 will provide: -
- the care and support services necessary to meet this increased demand
- more support for adults with physical disabilities
- more support for adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs
- extra resources for independent sector care.
I joined my Conservative colleagues in arguing that Nottinghamshire County Council must live within its means and ensure frontline statutory services are maintained.
(Posted 5/11/2010)
Improvement Programme
Like every council in the country, Nottinghamshire County Council faces ongoing, significant and unavoidable increases in demand for key services. At the same time, it faces an unprecedented and long-term reduction in the resources available to it. Present forecasts are that the Council must reduce its current expenditure by at least £88m, or 18% of its revenue budget, over the next three financial years. Most of this reduction will be used to fund increased demand in other service areas. £30m of reductions have already been identified for 2010/11, leaving a further £58m to be found in 2011/12 and 2012/13.
In the past, reductions have been achieved through a process of allocating savings targets across departments. However, the scale of the financial challenge is now such that a more strategic approach is needed to achieve reductions in a structured and consistent way.
At the County Council meeting on 25th February 2010 the Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Martin Suthers gained approval for a new Improvement Programme to deliver these aims, called ‘One Council - One Business - One Plan’. This will involve an estimated investment of £21 million over five years to deliver total aggregated savings of over £200m over a five year period.
The Improvement Programme will include: -
-
a complete overhaul of the Council’s approach to procurement
-
implementation of an integrated Business Management System and changes in processes
-
rationalisation of the Council’s property portfolio and improvement in flexible ways of working
-
a fundamental review of all services followed by a comprehensive programme of organisational redesign
-
departmental improvement programmes that deliver service-specific developments and
-
the Chief Executive’s own programme to deliver improvements in partnership working, communications and organisational development.
The aim of ‘One Council-One Business-One Plan’ is to drive out inefficiency, target resources, minimise the impact on service delivery and create an organisation that is fit for purpose and financially sustainable in the long term.
(Posted 8/3/10)
New Strategic Plan
Nottinghamshire County Council's new Strategic Plan 2010-2014 sets out our promise to the people of Nottinghamshire; our priorities for the next four years; and how we aim to support the people of our county to be aspirational, independent and to share with us responsibility for the future.
This Plan complements the wider Nottinghamshire Sustainable Community Strategy which is the collective plan that outlines how organisations in the county will work together to promote and deliver a better Nottinghamshire.
Our plan is ambitious. It is a plan based on what local people tell us they want, and what they want to see happen. The success of our plan relies on us working well together with local people and organisations. Whilst we face challenging financial times, nevertheless we have opportunities to promote and deliver a better future for Nottinghamshire.
(Posted 8/3/10)
Fernwood Village
I regret that David Wilson Homes have been unable to agree conditions which would allow John Marshall to take buses throughout the Fernwood development site. This would have allowed residents already living at Fernwood to be provided with a bus service. I have received numerous representations indicating how isolated many residents now feel, but unless or until this situation changes, there is not a great deal more I can do.
(Posted 17/11/09)
Farndon Post Office
I am delighted that a post box has finally been installed outside the new Post Office at Farndon. It took a lot of pressure to secure the opening of the new sub-Post Office in June and it is unfortunate that it took even longer for the post box to be provided. Nevertheless, I am pleased that the matter is now resolved and we once again have a proper Post Office service for the village.
(Posted 17/11/09)
