An exclusive with John van de Laarschot, Chief Exec at Stoke-on-Trent City Council

John: Yes there are. Change is always difficult and people are always resistant to change and particularly if you can't paint a compelling picture for them of what the alternative is and what the future holds. That's the piece that's been a little bit lacking for the last two years. Both of the budget rounds have really been, let's take a look at a one-year scenario because of so much uncertainty going forward.

We find ourselves now after this election with four years in front of us with a two-year settlement; so for once we'll start to be able to look on a much longer term basis in terms of changes that are needed across the city. That is going to be about painting a compelling vision for the future and trying to solicit the encouragement and support for businesses and the communities to realise that in getting to that vision a lot of things are going to have to change. A lot of things that are not commercially viable; a lot of things that we hold on to simply out of habit, we're going to need to let them go if we want to bring a new vitality into this city.

Jonathan: Looking at the benefits of the cutbacks for your culture as a Council, did it unearth and reveal where that character was in your leaders and do you think you've got a better team as a result?

John: If you ask every single one of our elected members, you'd find that they want to do the best thing for the city, but it is about coordinating that into a single voice and then being able to deliver it.

The local authority's been, like a lot of local authorities, a bit risk adverse; perhaps a little bit bullied and intimidated by central government in terms of what it can and what it can't do. I sense now that there's an appetite and an opportunity to push the boundaries a little bit; to try some different things and to be much more innovative in terms of solutions that will drive the city forward.

Jonathan: Let's look at the actual cuts. In January the Council unveiled that it would need to find £35.6 million in savings. Having looked at the summary proposals recommended back in February it details over 250 proposals, the vast majority of which were agreed. Many used words such as 'restructure', 'review', 'rationalise'. Does this highlight a lack of efficiency that was there previously?

John: Yes; being perfectly honest about it. If you look at the population that we serve, which is about 240,000 and you take out the school side, having an organisation staff of 5,500 is a pretty big organisation for the community that it serves. When you start to look at the objectives the politicians set in this latest budget round, which was around trying to protect the most vulnerable, then it's clear that in terms of savings you target first of all where you've got overlap, duplication, too many managers and inefficient processes and you try and rip all of that out as effectively as you can.

From a city perspective there are clearly huge benefits, as a consequence of that, with not having to dig too deep into front line services. Of course for our staff it's still a horrendous experience. They've lived with this kind of rather chubby culture in the past and to suddenly start to get cut back to the bone, it's not a very nice place to be and it's very unsettling and unnerving for them, particularly with the current job market.

Jonathan: its one thing to have the strategy and ideas and say this is what we're going to do, it's another thing to actually deliver it. How easy or difficult is it going to be to deliver these cuts?

John: It's not easy, because in many cases we're dealing with people's livelihoods. What I can say to you, is that the vast majority of the budget cuts came through efficiency gains. They came through restructuring and unfortunately they came through reductions in head counts and much of that is already in place as we enter into the New Year. We've probably got around 70% of the total savings that we need for the year already in the bag; which is a good place to be in.

Jonathan: How do you feel the public have responded so far?

John: Mixed I think. A part of transforming and transitioning the city and the local authority is about addressing the culture of this city. That's quite challenging because for every cut we make, there is always some part of the community that are affected by it and, rightfully so, they always see that as the most important priority. When you stand back from it and you try and look at all the different initiatives and all the different cuts that we've had to put through, it's incredibly challenging for the politicians to put one priority above the other. On the one hand you have to look at reducing services for the elderly or cutting back on services for young people; it's not an easy call.

I have to be honest, I'd like to see a lot more engagement when it comes up to the elections this time. If there's a message for anyone out there, at the end of the day your vote really counts, and your representative that you put into our chamber actually will probably have a greater impact on your life over the next four years than a general election.

Jonathan: Are there any particular cuts that you have a concern about having had to make; that it could have a longer term implication?