Letter: Is This Council Job Strictly Necessary?

Published on: 14 Dec, 2021
Updated on: 14 Dec, 2021

From: Linda Parker-Picken

I note that Guildford Borough Council is advertising for a Strategy Performance and Events policy manager. It will be a part-time (30 hours per week) post for 12 months, at a salary scale of £42,000 to £48,000.

Is this strictly necessary at this time of financial constraint, particularly when GBC is intending to cut funding to an existing and excellent arts centre in Guildford, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre? The proposed salary would more than offset the proposed cut to the theatre’s funding.

Moreover, with the combining of Guildford and Waverley’s senior staff grades, is there not an existing member of staff whose portfolio could be rearranged to cover the proposed duties of this policy officer. Are not such savings the point of the amalgamation?

Responses to Letter: Is This Council Job Strictly Necessary?

John Perkins Reply

December 14, 2021 at 9:01 pm

Nice work if you can get it. I imagine it’s double what someone doing a real job might get.
Jim Allen Reply

December 15, 2021 at 3:44 am

Perhaps the money would be better spent on a public lavatory attendant and or booking clerk for halls controlled by GBC, such as Sutherland Hall, in Burpham which is “available for hire” but there’s no one to take a booking at GBC.
Frank Emery Reply

December 15, 2021 at 9:16 am

Yippee, more money coming in, let’s see where we can waste it.
Adam Aaronson Reply

December 16, 2021 at 4:27 pm

It isn’t clear whether this is a new position or simply a vacant one, but Linda Parker-Pullen is right to point out that if budgets are so tight, GBC is pulling much-needed funding from the Yvonne Arnaud grant. Perhaps the advertised position should be deferred for the time being and the saving applied to the theatre.