{"id":5653,"date":"2015-09-14T12:45:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T11:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5653"},"modified":"2015-09-14T13:00:25","modified_gmt":"2015-09-14T12:00:25","slug":"curious-financial-reasoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5653","title":{"rendered":"‘Curious financial reasoning’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tomorrow (September 15) Unite Community members will march to Bristol council to hand in a petition against the closure of beds for disabled children at a local respite centre.<\/p>\n

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The petition has 2,500 signatures from local residents who are angry at the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to axe the number of beds available as part of cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n

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George Ferguson, the independent mayor of Bristol is pressing ahead with plans to cut five beds at The Bush respite centre in order to try and save \u00c2\u0141350,000-a-year, despite widespread opposition and the full council rejecting his proposals in February.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Bush respite centre provides a vital service to our community, offering care and support to the most vulnerable children and pressured families in our city,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said\u00c2\u00a0Unite community coordinator Brett Sparkes.<\/p>\n

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The campaign was fronted by Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bristol Community branch after member Ornella Saibene, who has a disabled godson relying on the unit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s services, raised the issue.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe recently refurbished building has excellent facilities. Fostering, befriending, short breaks and direct payments are no match to the resources and care at the Bush,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Sparkes.<\/p>\n

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Unite has also raised \u00e2\u20ac\u0098the curious financial reasoning\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 that sees the much-needed beds facing the axe, while\u00c2\u00a0 the council spend \u00c2\u01412.3 million on 20 mph road signs in the city.<\/p>\n

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Richard Mills, research director at Research Autism described the closure of the Bush as illogical and said it must be resisted.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is my firm view that families of children with complex needs require short break services that are accessible and reliable, and have the guaranteed capacity to support their children and where they can have complete confidence that their children will receive expert care in an environment that is fit for purpose,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Mills.<\/p>\n

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The petition will be handed in to the full council meeting at St George’s Hall, Great George Street, Bristol BS1 5RR at 5.45pm on Tuesday\u00c2\u00a0(September 15).<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese cuts, if they are allowed to go ahead, will start the slippery slope towards closure of The Bush. Unite Community is standing in solidarity with the children and families that rely on its crucial services,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165\u00c2\u00a0said Sparkes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow (September 15) Unite Community members will march to Bristol council to hand in a petition against the closure of beds for disabled children at a local respite centre.   The petition has 2,500 signatures from local residents who are angry at the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to axe the number of beds available as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[265,349,232],"wps_subtitle":"Mayor cuts disabled kids' beds to spend millions on road signs","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5653"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5657,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653\/revisions\/5657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}