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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Assembly Member supports union in fighting for Land Registry jobs
January 15, 2009 12:00 AM
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black has written to the Land Registry's Chief Executive to ask him to reconsider plans that could see up to 220 job losses at Swansea's two Land Registry offices.
Mr. Black has written following a meeting with the civil service trade union, PCS. They estimated that the closure of the Land Registry Office in High Street and the amalgamation of all staff into the Llansamlet building will mean over 200 staff having to leave just to fit into the available space.
"I fully understand the impact of the recession and the near paralysis that has resulted in the housing market, which has put the Land Registry in such a difficult situation," said Mr. Black. "Nevertheless, I believe that some offices still hold fairly substantial stocks of work and that there are other ways to use staff to invest in the service provided by the Land registry until the economy picks up.
"Much of the spare capacity during the last housing crisis was taken up computerising the land registers for example, surely it is possible to do something similar this time in terms of computerising their filed plans. It would also be possible to change the legislation to bring in more work and to systematically seek out voluntary registrations from large land-owning public bodies such as Local Councils, the Ministry of Defence, the Forestry Commission or even charities like the National Trust?"
"If such work was obtained and kept within Wales then it would be possible to minimise job losses. It would also be possible to continue to concentrate staff in one office at the same time by taking up short term office space around the Wales Office to accommodate those who cannot be housed in the main Llansamlet office.
"The preservation of their highly trained and valuable workforce should be a priority for the Land Registry. I understand the pressure they may be under from the Treasury but as a trading fund, operating a market-led business, the Land Registry could quickly find themselves in a position whereby they may have to recruit staff once more to respond to a recovering market. That is why I believe it would be a mistake cut staff numbers now."
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