CUTS are inevitable to save Watford Council from disaster, the town's mayor has warned.

Mayor Dorothy Thornhill told councillors "there will be cuts" as they debated a document setting out their vision for the town on Wednesday, June 19.

The Best Value Performance Plan shows the council has improved in eight out of ten areas including the speed with which it processes planning applications.

But a recent inspection revealed Watford was in the bottom 25 per cent of councils in many areas, results which will be set out in a report in August.

Mayor Thornhill, who has been in office for seven weeks, said cuts were the only way to get Watford out of a "mess".

She said: "We are going to have to make some tough decisions that will be bad news for some people.

"The council is a high spending council with the highest Council Tax in Hertfordshire yet every best value inspection tells us we have high costs, poor services and low satisfaction.

"If we were a school we would be in Special Measures.

"We are having reviews and the results will direct which services are going to be trimmed."

Opposition councillors said they were disappointed with some of the targets set out by the new mayor and her administration but agreed savings would have to be made.

Conservative group leader Tim Williams said: "We need to rein in our priorities and concentrate on frontline services. We're looking for year on year savings."

Prime objectives set down for 2002/2003 include improving the efficiency of administrative services that support the council's work, looking at the budget and identifying where savings can be made and keeping a closer eye on performance.

But top of the list is getting the council's finances straight.

District Auditor Mr Mick West was expected to give an opinion on the 2001/2002 accounts this week. Finance chiefs are expecting him to issue a disclaimer, which means that yet again he cannot be assured of their accuracy.

Councils are required by law to produce the Best Value plan which is intended to give residents an idea of how Watford has performed.

The 111-page document has been criticised as complicated, unclear and confusing.

Mayor Thornhill said the next BVPP would be "radically different".

June 27, 2002 16:30