Cost-cutting move to axe Pendle town hall chief

10:00pm Thursday 21st February 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

A TOWN hall chief executive could be asked to quit – and 16 councillors sacked – to save almost £150,000 for a cash-strapped authority.

Labour councillors in Pendle believe Stephen Barnes should step down – and Burnley chief executive Steve Rumbelow should take the helm for both neighbouring authorities.

Mr Barnes is believed to earn around £90,000 for a four-day week, after his hours were cut 12 months ago.

And the Labour group is also proposing to slash the number of councillors, from 49 to 33, for Nelson, Colne, and West Craven.

Coun Mohammed Iqbal, Labour leader, said: “I would like to acknowledge the excellent work that Mr Barnes has done over the decades of service he has given.

“However, the huge cuts being imposed on areas like Pendle from this Tory and Liberal Democrat government mean that we have to take big decisions.

“I will be moving as part of our budget that we enter into talks with Burnley Council to share their chief executive. This will save a large amount of money for hard-pressed Pendle taxpayers.”

Deputy leader Coun Eileen Ansar added: “The government is hitting councils such as Pendle very hard with a huge reduction in funding.

“I believe that we need to reduce the number of coun- cillors to show our solidarity with fellow residents.”

Last year Mr Barnes saw his hours reduced, regeneration director Brian Cookson went to a three-day week, and community services director Philip Mousdale took a wage cut in return for more flexible working hours.

The proposition will be raised by the Labour group as part of its budget proposals, at Nelson Town Hall, tonight.

Talks have taken place between Burnley and Pendle over shared services, and there is an agreement for co-operation on certain legal services now in place.

Comments(13)

ToffeeGuy says...
11:07pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Mr Barnes, Mr Cookson and Mr Mousdale. At least two of these directors should go. With the reductions in budgets and staff, Pendle Council simply cannot justify having that number of chiefs. It is the middle and lower ranks of the council who are feeling the cuts the most, time for the upper ranks to be cut as well.

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burnleyglentoran says...
11:26pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Mr Barnes is believed to earn around £90,000 for a four-day week, after his hours were cut 12 months ago.

Nice work (I use the term losely!) if you can get it!!

Get shut of bad rubbish...

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golazzo says...
6:20am Fri 22 Feb 13

I'm surprised no ones mentioned Barnfield constructions yet?

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mavrick says...
9:03am Fri 22 Feb 13

Is this not forcing unitary authorities on areas by stealth? big councils are not better. It may look good on paper but you lose accountability, chief executives are grossly overpaid for what they do.

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Philip A Berry says...
9:19am Fri 22 Feb 13

Excellent idea. Lets get rid of 16 out of the 18 Labour councilors and leave 2 of them.

Obviously the 2 to be left would be Mohammed Iqbal & Eileen Ansar!

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Izanears says...
9:50am Fri 22 Feb 13

It should not worry Stephen Barnes too much. I am sure that he will have strings to his bow, like PEARL for example.
PS. Isn't Brian Cookson taking up some role within the Cycling fraternity?

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retsofad says...
3:58pm Fri 22 Feb 13

Great News get rid of 16 councillors start with Iqbal and Ansar followed by another 14 Labour Councillors who are worthless and a drain on the public purse. We know of 1 who is always on holiday had 2 holidays just before Christmas this last year another councillor who the residents have never met and don't know him. Iqbal wants rid of Mr Barnes because he has seen all the good work that has been done under Mr Barnes's watch it has not been done under Iqbal leadership and would be a crying shame if this man ever got the leader of the council. how about if Iqbal told the public how much he ears from Council work, I am told it's about £50K?

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ROBERTSLUMDWELLER123 says...
4:33pm Fri 22 Feb 13

for the good all the councillors do get rid of them all starting with Ansar

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coates warder says...
6:41pm Fri 22 Feb 13

Philip A Berry wrote:
Excellent idea. Lets get rid of 16 out of the 18 Labour councilors and leave 2 of them.

Obviously the 2 to be left would be Mohammed Iqbal & Eileen Ansar!
hope you have had a lot to drink with this quote lol they should be the first to go

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Philip A Berry says...
12:16am Sat 23 Feb 13

coates warder wrote:
Philip A Berry wrote:
Excellent idea. Lets get rid of 16 out of the 18 Labour councilors and leave 2 of them.

Obviously the 2 to be left would be Mohammed Iqbal & Eileen Ansar!
hope you have had a lot to drink with this quote lol they should be the first to go
Think about it a little harder coates.

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retsofad says...
11:21pm Sat 23 Feb 13

Just read the Nelson Leader didn't see anything in the council report asking for the Chief Executive to step down. Another Labour dream time the voters woke up and voted this Labour group off the council. it's time the LT stopped buttering up to Iqbal and start to report truth about Labour

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will12 says...
5:12pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Barnes is on £135k p.a., and yes he took reduced hours, so £135k p.a. for a 4 day week, but he doesn't miss out because day 5 is made up from his Pension that Poll Tax Payer's pay for !!!!!!

And get rid of any Councillor who was on the Council that was party to the "Car Park Extension" in Nelson Centre, or should I say "Park where you want, how you want Extension" but Driver's beware, you will get a ticket if you Park too long !!

And who is at fault for the chaos that Driver's face every day ???? The Council, The Parking Attendant's or the Police ??? Seemingly no one has any balls to stand up and say they are to blame !!!!

No one likes it, eveyone thinks its a total waste of money, and yet the Council thinks its wonderful !!! Beware, because WE the Poll Tax Payer's pay for you to **** up all the time, well the time is nigh, the revolution is just around the corner !! You have been warned !!!!

Does any one else think Pendle's Councillor's come from Mars????

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elfnsafety says...
7:43pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Just wonder if Will 12 is on something. Shades of Citizen Smith!
He shouldn't upset the Lib-Dem Councillors, who were very proud of their design for the Town Centre, but he's quite right - it's an appalling layout and makes parking very difficult.
As far as the original point is concerned, Labour never did anything to reduce the cost of running the Council when they were in charge, they just liked spending money. That's why the UK is still bust now. Don't ever forget who kept spending the money when the world was heading for the crash of 2008.

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