By Wayne Bontoft
Published on Fri Jan 28 08:05:23 GMT 2011
OPPOSITION leaders at County Hall have condemned the fact that Northamptonshire County Council spends £800,000 a year renting photocopiers.Details released as part of the council’s budget plans show the authority is trying to save £80,000 from its annual budget for photocopiers, printers and scanners.
But the £80,000 saving represents just 10 per cent of the overall bill paid by the council to lease 360 copying machines.
The deputy leader of the Labour opposition group at county Hall, Councillor Mark Bullock (Lab, Corby Central) said: “It just beggars belief. I would imagine it doesn’t cost much more to print the Chronicle & Echo.
“I find the whole thing staggering and completely unacceptable.”
He was backed by the leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Brendan Glynane (Lib Dem, Delapre) who questioned why so many copiers were needed by the authority.
He said: “I would imagine some of them are just sitting around in the corners of offices not being used. And they’re always talking about things like introducing the ‘paperless office’ to help save the environment. But I think this shows that while there’s a lot of talk, we’re not seeing it.”
The 360 copiers leased by the council do not include those in schools, which all have separate arrangements for acquiring the devices. But in the face of criticism over the large bill, the council has said it is working on a plan to reduce its use of copiers and further plans to cut back will be revealed next month.
The council’s cabinet member for finance, Councillor Bill Parker (Con, Brambleside) said: “We are looking at reducing the number of photocopiers we have. We’re looking at 10 per cent, but if we could save more money that’s the sort of area we’re looking at.”
An official spokesman for the authority added: “The financial challenges we’re facing means we have to look at everything we’re doing to find ways of saving money and doing things more cheaply.
“We currently have a project underway to reduce the amount being spent on photocopying and printing. This includes reducing the number of machines we currently lease across the council as well as putting a process in place to avoid staff using the machines for large-scale printing jobs.”
The council is currently working on budget plans designed to save £73 million in the coming financial year, which include a number of library closures, scrapping lollipop ladies, turning off half the county’s street lights and scrapping bus subsidies.