“You get good and bad in every place of work. The good ones carry the bad ones, people fiddle their expenses and so on. What I do not appreciate is services my £120 per month pays for being held to ransom by people who do not understand that they are employed to provide a service. In the private sector the customer (ie, the tax payer) is king. There should be accountability and examinations of what exactly people are doing during their working day -just like in a private company.
Its unfortunate that the good people who work hard and for lower wages will get caught up in the losses.”

“I forgot to mention one thing on my mind, if these public servants can make the county borough run with 750 people less why have they not done it before? Why have they been wasting taxpayers money for many years and costing us in high taxation?
It is about time some pruning was done and a head count reduction is needed at top level in this council, elected and full time. Don¿t know if they have to be trained to be that stupid or if it comes naturally . I know there are a lot of good conscientious people in this council but they are tarred with the same brush as the people only there for trough time. About time the residents of N+PT rebelled against the incompetence of the hobbyist councillors. Many years ago when I was in school I was told that if you put up a chimpanzee as a labour candidate in this town it would get in. The tea party is over, time to give them a few bananas and they will be happy. Some don¿t even have to be elected they just defect”

“True anon - WAG an outpost of the EU.”

“As the WAG gets more powerful, it will do away with most councils, and just have a few coordinators to oversee contractors who will provide the frontline services. Housing first, then refuse, then highways. Trust me, it will happen.”

“It will be interesting to see just how many NPTCC Councilors stand up and be counted tomorrow. I know that the Plaid Councilors were all there 2 weeks ago in Port Talbot but the others were strangely missing and very quiet. I wonder if that was they felt it was the "right" decision or that they were told to follow the party line like donkeys?

Tomorrow workers, unionists, residents, family members will gather to march through Neath to show their total disagreement with this half baked scheme to "improve" the care system in NPTC. How many other than the Plaid Councilors will turn up to oppose or even explain why they support this plan and why they have decided not to have "no compulsory redundancies "For a so-called "socialist" party they seem to have forgotten what their party was meant to mean.

I and many others think of the classic element in George Orwell¿s Animal Farm when the worker looked through the window at the pigs and the men and couldn't see the difference. Just how many of NPTCC "Labour" councilors would fit right in to Conservative council in the South East of England?”

“I wonder if the annual alcohol bill from the mayors parlour will be cut ......................No i cant see it somehow.”

“If the council want to save money then why the hell are they gritting my road EVERY night, as they did last night and have done for at least 4 consecutive nights????”

“Linda, Neath

The thing is Linda, why hasn't Peter Hain done something to stop his buddies in NPT Council being undemocratic and why hasn't he done more to minimise job losses within the this Local Authority!? Does Peter Hain not realise, that if he and his Labour buddies does nothing for the people of Neath Port Talbot during this crisis, then Mr. Hain will have more time to top up his Orange tan post the General Election!?”

“I agree with jeffery in that the people who should go are Officers on £75,000 pa and cabinet posts should be disposed of - "The Council" is now classed as a Corporate Body. Since the passing of the Local Government Act 2000 very few decisions are made by full Council. Herein lies the destruction of democracy by a labour administration - 64 Councillors - half of whom do not know what their own Council is doing. Cabinet meetings are totally controlled by Labour in this Council and scrutiny committees are also controlled by the same party. Has anyone noticed how much information is given out of NPT CBC by Labour Councillors - I can tell you - nothing - it is a closed shop. The cabinets should not exist - every decision should come through the whole council and the electorate would then know what was going on. So target the right people, highly paid Officers working with Labour cabinets has destroyed democracy - to get it back you must retain your Councillors, make them work for their money and bring openness into a Council that thrives on secrecy to the detriment of the electorate of this authority.”

“Anon, Neath - perfect post. I know what goes on and am indeed outraged. That's why so many council employees are scared of getting the boot. They know they couldn't hack it in the private sector.”