Crawley Borough Council conducted a short review in to its Facilities Management services, with a report being produced in September 2010. One of the recommendations agreed was a reduction in the Town Hall Attendant staffing levels of two posts, both of which were vacant at that time.
Savings have been achieved by a number of Town Hall Attendanct duties being dealt with in different ways. Amongst these were the provision of refreshments at meetings which the Town Hall Attendants had previously provided. At the time of the report annual savings from the installation of vending machines were estimated at £13,200, i.e. a reduction in staffing costs of £20,000 minus the cost of vending machine rental and supplies of £6,800. Actual annual costs for the 12-month period up to 31 August 2012 of vending was £5,070 so the actual savings for the taxpayer are greater at £14,930 per year.
Prior to the vending machines being installed, water machines in the committee rooms dispensed both cold and hot water for refreshments. When the vending machines were installed the water machines were replaced by ones which dispensed cold water only which resulted in a further saving of approximately £500 p.a.
So these are worthwhile savings for Crawley taxpayers yet according to the Crawley News:
"Labour opposition leader Peter Lamb says he would support a return to the old system."
Why on earth would anyone support that, having people come into committee rooms to serve councillors when they could be doing something more productive? Labour councillors are just as keen as anyone else to use the vending machines. Is this another example of misguided opposition?