The world is changing and so are we

One of the things I love best as a councillor is going out to talk to residents and people from our different groups and communities. It’s really important to hear about your real experiences of living and working in Sutton.

So, I am pleased that in the next couple of weeks, you will be able to give us your feedback about some of the services Sutton Council provides -  to make sure that these services are still offering the help and support needed and that they are still relevant. We will be doing this using resident consultations and surveys.

Like all councils, we are having to think about how we can do things differently. For us, as well as for everyone else, inflation remains a big problem with increased costs. We are also seeing huge increases in demands for adults and children who need our support, and from families who are becoming homeless. 

In Sutton we are managing our budget tightly and well. Unlike other councils who are having to cut essential services, Sutton is not in this position. However, after almost a decade of government underfunding, we are having to take a closer look at how we can continue to deliver our services within the resources we have available.

So we want to consult with our library users to find out what they think about us keeping some of them open longer by extending the opening hours. If this is something you would like to see, I encourage you to take part in this consultation when it launches next week. 

We also have consultations going out concerning services we offer to some of the younger members of our communities and their families. We are interested to find out what you think about the services we currently provide to families with children aged 0-5 years. We also want to hear about how we can support children and young people to travel independently across the borough as they prepare for adulthood. 

Your views are important to us and I hope you take part in these consultations. What you say helps us to make decisions about our services and how we deliver them in the best way possible, given the financial cuts we have had to make over the last thirteen years.

The consultations will be open for a number of weeks. All responses are confidential and are not shared with any other organisation.

I hope you do take the opportunity to say what you think. Every response is important to us and I thank you for taking the time to take part. I hope you have a very happy weekend.
 

Councillor Ruth Dombey
Leader of the Council