Bill Lewis (and sixteen others) try to save Rugby Borough Council £100,000 a year

… but are thwarted by the Tories.

In March 2014 the Council set up a working group to see if it could save money on the way it ran itself. The working group was made up of four of the Council's staff and a councillor from each of the parties on the Council. Cllr Sally Bragg (Wolston & The Lawfords) represented the conservatives on this group.

The working group found that money could be saved by holding "all-out" elections once every four years. That is the way the majority of councils in England hold their elections. Most Rugby wards (including Rokeby & Overslade) have three councillors and at present there is an election every year but for just one of the three councillors. Council officials calculated that holding elections the new way would save £162,000 over a four year period. That is just over £40,000 a year.

The entire working group also recommended that the number of councillors should be cut. Council officers calculated that cutting the number of councillors from 42 to 33 would save almost £57,000 a year. This would still leave one councillor for every three thousand inhabitants of Rugby.

These proposals were put to a vote on Tuesday 23 September 2014. Despite being the recommendations of an all-party working group, including one of their own, the tories voted them down. As Rokeby & Overslade currently has one councillor from each party we can see how everyone behaved.

Cllr Bill Lewis (Liberal Democrat) voted for the savings

Cllr Howard Avis (Labour) voted for the savings

Cllr Matthew Francis (Conservative) voted against the savings

Overall the debate was lost by just 17 votes to 20. If just two more tory councillors had lost their seats last May the Council would have saved £100,000 a year.