Crunch decision due on council budget
West Berkshire Council will meet tonight (Thursday) to discuss and agree its 2011-12 budget
FIVE youth centres are to close and bus fare schemes are to be slashed as West Berkshire Council prepares to rubber stamp a myriad of service cuts as part of its 2011-12 budget tonight (Thursday).
The council announced last Wednesday it had finalised measures to cope with an £8.2 cut in Government funding in the coming year, with the majority of the cash to be lost coming from ring-fenced grants.
It has since released the finer points of its year-in spending plan, with the Children and Young People's directorate subject to the hardest hitting reductions, totalling £1,529,000.
Aside from the 180 jobs axed since the cuts package was first announced in July, from April, Riverside and John O'Gaunt youth centres will close, and by the end of March, Kintbury Youth Club, Theale Junior Youth club, John O'Gaunt Youth Club, John O'Gaunt lunch club, and Waterside junior club under 13s will also be shut, and there will be no building-based open access youth work in the Clayhill and Turnpike areas.
The pockets of bus users will also be hit, with £115,000 slashed from the concessionary fare scheme budget and a reduction of over £70,000 in bus service funding.
The arts have been hit by the axe, with nearly half a million pounds shaved from the cultural budget, as funding for the Corn Exchange and The Watermill theatres is reduced by £140,000.
West Berkshire's libraries will lose over £200,000, but unlike other areas of the country, the council has taken the necessary action to ensure that all nine libraries and two mobile libraries will remain open.
There will be no increase in the amount of council tax residents pay.
Councillor Graham Jones, the leader of West Berkshire Council said the budget, while appearing straightforward in many aspects, had been difficult to execute, especially when taken into context that 180 jobs had been shed.
“We are living in difficult times and we realise that the government has had to take action to tackle the deficit.
“The good news is that we have been anticipating the need for savings and therefore have carefully planned our reductions to protect front-line services. I am also delighted to be able to confirm there will be no increase in Council Tax,” he said.
Following a protest outside the council officers in December in which over 200 people lobbied the council over the cuts, a group behind the Facebook campaign which saw students protest in Newbury over increasing university fees has called on campaigners to again descend on the council offices.
The group wants care workers, youth workers, and families and politicians to lobby executive members at the Market Street offices tonight at 6pm in a last-ditch attempt to force the council to re-think its budget proposals.
