Lib Dems raise serious concerns about Conservative cuts to Council budgets
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
17th February 2016
Lib Dems raise serious concerns about
Conservative cuts to Council budgets
The reduction in funding from the Government combined with the ever increasing cost of providing social care is forcing the Council to make severe cuts to the services it provides.
- There will be £26m over cuts in this year's budget.
- Over the next four years, this will rise to at least £78m in total.
- This assumes that Council tax rises by 4% each of those years - without the steep rises in Council tax these cuts would be even higher!
- The £78m figure is optimistic as it assumes a level of spending growth that is far lower than the spending growth in previous years. The actual level of cuts is likely to be far higher.
County Council Services will be hit:
- There will be big losses to prevention services, for both adults and children. This raises concerns that this will lead to higher demand for more expensive statutory services in the future.
- There are significant cuts to waste and recycling services. Again concerns that this will lead to higher levels of waste going to landfill sites (at a high cost) and possible extra fly tipping.
- Subsidised public transport will also more or less disappear. Any bus routes that aren't profitable on their own terms will be lost completely, in some areas replaced with a weekly service.
This is on top of the huge cuts that have already been made to services over the last four years including:
- Removal of funding for Meals on Wheels
- Street lighting in some areas switched off after midnight
- Huge cuts to highway maintenance and improvement budgets.
- Grass cutting service significantly reduced (causing thousands of complaints)
- Loss of funding for Green Waste collection
- Closure of Snibston
- Libraries relying on volunteers to stay open
Simon Galton said: "This budget and financial strategy for the next 4 years will reduce spending on services in Leicestershire by a further £78m. It is a direct consequence of decisions and choices made by the Conservative Government.
Council tax payers will be paying more and getting less because income is not keeping up with demand for services.
The Council's past reputation as a 'can do' council is fast becoming 'can't do' and that is something we should all regret."