The Conservatives have lost their overall majority on South Gloucestershire Council as opposition parties made big gains at their expense at the local elections. Tories have been the ruling group for eight years but suffered several major losses to place the authority into No Overall Control. A coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems now seems the likeliest outcome.
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Ahead of the upcoming local elections in South Gloucestershire each party has promised voters how they would make the area better if they win power. Voters will head to the polls on Thursday 4th May 2023, to cast their ballot for who should run South Gloucestershire Council. The outcome of the election will affect how a wide range of public services in the district are run.
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Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, has announced that he has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Prior to the diagnosis, the MP had been in and out of hospital with suspected appendicitis for three months, culminating in a major operation three weeks ago. In a statement issued today, Mr Lopresti said: “I am to have three months chemotherapy.
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Labour’s leader in South Gloucestershire has accused the district’s Tories and Liberal Democrats of pretending that the council does not face cuts in its services. This afternoon, councillors on the Policy and Resources Committee were asked to agree the public consultation questionnaire on next year’s budget. This document included a reference to “additional service cuts” if certain options are taken.
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South Gloucestershire Council “lived within its means” during the last year of the authority’s Conservative Cabinet, it was announced this week. At the first meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources Committee, the authority’s budget ‘Outturn Report’ for 2011-12 was reported as showing an under-spend of £239K, which represents 0.1 per cent of the council’s £180m approved budget. This is
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South Gloucestershire Council has tonight voted to abolish the undemocratic Cabinet, and to return to a Committee system of governance, where all members are involved in decision-making processes. Councils were forced to disband their committees by the Labour government, but new powers in the Localism Act allowed them to return to collective decision-making. South Gloucestershire is one of the first
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South Gloucestershire residents have been denied a say on a major constitutional change in what has been labelled a “Black Day for local democracy” in the district. Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors voted down a Conservative proposal to consult with the public at tonight’s Full Council meeting (Wednesday 21st March), even though Bristol residents have the chance to vote in
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Labour councillors in South Gloucestershire have heralded the Council’s decision this evening to scrap its ruling Cabinet and move to a Committee system of decision making which will involve all 70 councillors as great for democracy and transparency. From mid-May, politically proportional committees will make the authority’s key decisions instead of just seven Conservative ‘Executive’ councillors. The decision was made
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South Gloucestershire Conservative councillors succeeded in freezing the Council Tax for a second year running at last night’s council budget meeting, pumping more funding into elderly care and rewarding communities that have seen housing growth . At the meeting, all councillors were asked to support the recommendations of the Conservative Cabinet, which included: Freezing the basic Council Tax for a
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Labour councillors in South Gloucestershire last night voted against the ruling Conservatives’ budget package, arguing that they were being asked to sign a blank cheque because of the lack of critical detail it contained. In a speech to the Council, Labour Leader Cllr Andy Perkins pinpointed his party’s concerns about the 2012/13 budget in terms of its lack of transparency,
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