'Cuts? We've barely started!'
Former council leader warns of worse to come
YOU’VE seen nothing yet, if you think the current budget cuts are harsh – that is the message from the former leader of West Berkshire Council.
Gordon Lundie (Con, Lambourn Valley) was addressing a public meeting about the current cuts proposals in Lambourn on Wednesday last week.
He warned of “dark days ahead”, predicting: “The funding for pretty much all services will be cut.
“The country is bankrupt and your money is going up North and to less affluent regions.
“You’ll be paying to subsidise people in West Lothian.”
Referring to last May’s elections, one member of the public said: “We wouldn’t have voted for you if you’d told us this.”
They were told not to be “political” by parish council chairman Michael Billinge-Jones, who chaired the meeting.
Another said: “These cuts have long been anticipated. Why didn’t you work to protect us from this financial devastation?”
Mr Lundie replied: “The country has been bankrupt for seven years.
“I would shut a library to stop people from starving. It sounds unpalatable but shouting at me won’t help.”
Chairwoman of Friends of Lambourn Library, Jacqui Flisher, described the library as the “lifeblood of our community, especially as we’re so far removed, geographically, from Newbury”.
She urged all present to fill in the consultation forms, adding: “Signing petitions and writing letters isn’t going to help.”
Some at the meeting echoed Hungerford Town Council’s frustration at being denied access to the projected savings figures for individual libraries, arguing that it rendered staging a “realistic consultation impossible”.
Others echoed the suggestion of the chairman of Friends of Hungerford Library, Keith Knight, who proposed closing the Newbury library instead while saving rural outlets.
Ms Flisher agreed: “Eighty per cent live outside Newbury; the running cost of Newbury library is five times more than the rest, so it would make more sense to close that one and let people in Newbury travel to Wash Common.
“We are not second class citizens just because we live in Lambourn. It’s ‘rural cleansing’ – but we refuse to be walked over and we have to show that.”
A quick show of hands suggested that around a third of those at the meeting had home internet access and around a third did not own a car.
But as strong feelings were vented, Mr Lundie told the meeting: “You can keep shouting at me – that’s a very easy meeting to have. But it won’t achieve much.”
He said it was a “myth” that the district council could even consider closing Newbury Library because keeping the central facility open meant the statutory duty to provide a public library service was fulfilled.
Mr Lundie added: “That’s the legal advice we’ve been given – but you’re free to have a whip round and mount a legal challenge in the High Court.”
He also urged anyone who had a plan to save library services to contact Hilary Cole (Con, Chieveley) as soon as possible.
