News | Page 27

A meeting has been called ahead of a possible strike held by Birmingham binmen involving workers’ representatives and Birmingham City Council. Officials are desperate to try to resolve the dispute ahead of further action since some city roads have not been cleared of rubbish for four weeks.

Birmingham City Council has sustained the second biggest total of job losses during the last financial period by any local authority.

Ashfield District Council in Nottinghamshire is one of the councils hit worst by central funding budget cuts. Jobs and services are set for a trim by the Labour run body, which will have almost a nine per cent reduction in spending power, the maximum allowable, for either 2011 or 2012/13. A transition grant effectively caps the cut at 8.9%, but the original cut will be used as the baseline for 2012-13 figures.

Birmingham City Council has sent letters to 26,000 employees advising them of possible changes to their terms of employment. The non-school workers have been consulted about accepting flexible working contracts. The council said the move would not result in anyone being made redundant and added that its aim was to increase efficiency.

Redundancies at Notts Police have not been ruled out because of a reduced budget from central government. The autumn’s comprehensive spending review revealed how spending on policing will be curbed by 20 per cent over the next four years. Detailed plans on possible redundancies are due to be put before Notts Police Authority at its meeting on Wednesday, December 15.

Merger plans could result in one hundred jobs disappearing in Herefordshire public services. The scheme involves some care services shared across Herefordshire Council, the primary care trust and county hospital. Council leader Roger Phillips said the authority’s aim is to combine services where possible, and not cut them.

Leader of Stratford-on-Avon District Council Stephen Gray said it accepted public spending cuts were "inevitable" to tackle the country’s budget deficit. The council said it had already made contingency plans for Spending Review cutbacks and these did not involve front-line services being trimmed back, but simply a programme of efficiency improvements.

Midlands workers figured among Jaguar Land Rover members who have voted for a pay deal which union leaders hailed. Unite said 74% of workers at Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull accepted the deal which will see pay increase by 5% this year and by RPI inflation plus 0.5% the following year.

The coalition’s spending cuts means specialist funding for sports schools and colleges across the Black Country and Staffordshire will be axed. The funding will return to the central schools budget and redistributed amongst all secondary schools.

A new food centre which transforms dinners at a Black Country hospital opens this week – £750,000 under budget. The new multi-million pound centre and 13 ward kitchens were due to open at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital on Monday (November 1).

Twenty fire engines were at the scene when a 15th Century pub and two other buildings were gutted in a blaze in a historic part of Hereford city centre. Bus services in St Peter’s Square had been disrupted, said police, who added that the fire was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault. More than 100 firefighters were called to the old High Town area, where Booth Hall and a number of shops were engulfed in flames.

Over-budget arts centre The Public is to get another £1.5 million of Sandwell Council cash a year despite cuts to jobs and front line services. Even though the local authorities vowed that the £72m centre would not get any more taxpayers’ money, council leader Darren Cooper confirmed £1.5m has been set aside. This is three times the £500,000 the council has quoted as its annual contribution in the past.