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Fast Broadband

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Fast Broadband

• achieving 100% high-speed broadband coverage

Defending Coast and Estuary

• protecting town and country from flooding

Greener Suffolk

• thinking and acting green

Waste Recycling

• driving recycling from 60% upwards

Affordable Housing

• championing affordable homes for needy people

Attracting Investment

• building on the £26 million achieved so far

Working With Communities

• enabling communities to enrich their lives

No To AV Campaign

• put an end to this unfair Lib Dems scheme

Keeping Costs Down

Our Record

For seven years we kept Council Tax increases below 5 %. This year the share of Council Tax you pay us has been frozen; a 0% Council Tax increase.

We have achieved that without any adverse impact on your priority services and despite a 28% reduction in central government grant over the next three years; due to the previous Labour government's overspending.

We have also succeeded in remaining debt-free. We have no borrowings.

That has all been done by looking carefully at everything we do and continually asking ourselves how we can do the same for less money.

Staff recruitment has been limited to essential and temporary posts only and a voluntary redundancy scheme has resulted in significant reductions in payroll costs.

Streamlined Management Structure

Starting with a shared Chief Executive in 2008, we now have in place a streamlined management structure with Waveney District Council.

All of the posts in the top two levels of management, under the Chief Executive, are now shared between the two Councils.

Shared Services

We have also been developing shared services with Waveney District Council to radically reduce management and administrative costs for the benefit of the council taxpayer. A first step has been to combine our ICT systems, and we shall soon be sharing the very costly administration of Council Tax and Council Tax Benefits.

Suffolk Coastal & Waveney are among first councils in the country to develop these innovative shared arrangements. They are already saving over £400,000 per annum for each of the two Councils and provide greater ability to manage work pressures and maintain frontline services during difficult times

Further efficiencies will follow as more and more joint service teams are put in place.

In the next four years, we will continue to keep Council Tax down and improve services

In any organisation, particularly in the public sector, inefficiencies can creep in and there are always better ways of working. We shall continue to keep a tight control on costs and seek out new ways of delivering ever better value for money.

It is your money. We shall go on spending it as carefully as possible. At the same time we are committed to improving the services we provide for residents.