Savings have to be made

As a member of the independent Poole People group, I make my own decisions and vote with my conscience, and do not just follow the lead of other parties as implied by Cllr Meachin’s quote in the article as referred to above.

No councillor wants to impose more costs on residents, but savings have to be made as approximately 40 per cent of the council’s budget is spent on adult social care.

Day centre meal charges have not increased since 2010.

Meals are not mass produced or heated in a microwave, they are provided to meet individual dietary requirements and there is choice.

For £6 a person receives a home cooked meal, a dessert and all the drinks that they require whilst on site, or he or she can choose a smaller meal, for example jacket potato, soup and sandwiches at a much-reduced cost.

I am the council’s dementia champion and care very much about vulnerable people, but the council is being forced to cut its expenditure aggressively by the current coalition government.

In such circumstances, should the council be giving an allowance for gardening and holidays to disabled people, or provide an allowance for wheelchairs and incontinence pads when these are generally provided by the NHS?

I will always try to show care and compassion, but sometimes a bit of practicality and logic has to be applied.

CLLR CHRIS WILSON, Dementia Champion, Poole