Hampshire County Council to vote on £16m of spending cuts – here is what it is planning
More than £16m of cuts to frontline services are expected to be approved when Hampshire County Council meets next week, as it battles to plug a £175m funding gap.
The package includes closing 12 household waste recycling centres, reducing the road maintenance budget, ending homelessness support, turning down street lighting and not buying as many new library books.
They will also introduce car parking charges in rural car parks including in Silchester.
The council says it needs to plug a budget gap partly caused by increased demand for adult and children’s social care budgets. It says its reserves are not enough to do this.
When its cabinet meets, it will be asked to vote through the cuts, which follow on from public consultations held across this year.
Other options will include looking at streamlining back-office functions, increasing income generation opportunities and selling land and buildings it no longer needs.
Depending on the decisions, Nick Adams-King, the leader of Hampshire County Council, said they faced considerable financial challenges with costs continuing to rise.
“This is a position faced by many councils up and down the country as local government funding has simply not kept pace with the growing numbers of children who need protecting from harm, abuse or neglect; school transport for children with disabilities and additional needs; and many more adults and older people with complex care needs and disabilities,” he said.
“The significant financial pressures we face are nothing new, but the costs are however accelerating at a faster pace than could have been previously anticipated.
“My cabinet colleagues and I are determined to address our financial challenges head-on for the benefit of Hampshire’s residents.”
He said he remained optimistic for Hampshire’s future and said they had been proactive in looking for appropriate savings.
“We have listened very carefully to the public’s feedback from our Future Services Consultation, and the strength of feeling and concern amongst many residents, partners and stakeholders around some of the proposals that were put forward,” he continued.
“My cabinet colleagues and I will be giving full consideration to the consultation responses, the impact of the proposals on the public and the recommendations of Select Committees, when we meet to make final decisions to help address the very challenging financial position of the council now and into the future.”
The meeting starts at 9am on Monday, October 14. It will be webcast live on YouTube.
Visit democracy.hants.gov.uk to see the agenda and the link to the broadcast.
The savings Hampshire County Council’s cabinet will be considering
- Highways
The council’s highways budget will be shrunk by £7.5 million from April next year.
Usually around £30 million, the 25 per cent reduction will see the number of resurfaced roads cut.
However, it would not impact on pothole repairs, sign cleaning and drainage clearing, and the funding pot could be increased if the government increases its allocation for highways maintenance in the budget later this month.
Only eight per cent of respondents to a consultation agreed with this budget saving plan, while 88 per cent said it was wrong.
- Highways Winter Services
A saving of £1 million is envisaged by revising the routes for gritted roads during inclement weather – five per cent of Priority One roads would be affected as a result, or 260 miles.
Hampshire County Council notes that more people are working from home, bus routes have been revised and new roads, developments and schools have sprung up.
The last time gritting routes were reviewed was, the council says, in the early part of the 21st century.
Almost two thirds of people responding to this consultation disagreed with the proposals, while just a quarter agreed.
- Passenger transport
Hampshire County Council is hoping to save £587,000 by removing taxi-share and support local bus services, as well as making additional passenger transport savings.
This includes adapting schemes such as Dial A Ride work around school run times to provide community transport services.
Those who have a concessionary bus pass would need to pay for travel before 9.30am or after 11pm on weekdays.
And a scheme that sees adults aged under 25 receive a loan scooter, Wheels To Work, will be withdrawn to save £85,000.
In the consultation, three quarters of respondents disagreed with the cuts, raising concerns on the impact of older residents, those with disabilities, those who live in rural areas, vulnerable people and those who have mental health concerns.
- School crossing patrols
More affectionately known as lollipop men or women, the school crossing patrol service is provided at 26 sites.
If it is withdrawn from these places, Hampshire County Council will save £114,000.
This leaves 154 places, which are not funded through current arrangements. The council says it would look to make these sites safe without the need for any additional works.
- Rural Countryside Parking
Under the plans, countryside car parks with 20 or more spaces owned by Hampshire County Council will start charging.
This includes Wall Lane in Silchester.
It is hoped it would raise £65,000 per year which would go back into Countryside Services.
Hampshire County Council said that more than half (53 per cent) of respondents were OK with the proposal.
However, four out of five respondents wanted short stays of up to an hour to be free.
Residents in Basingstoke and Deane were asked how much they felt was right for a two-hour stay, with £2.39 coming back as the average response. This was the highest out of all the Hampshire County Council areas.
- Street lighting
At the moment, street lighting on residential roads are switched off between 1am and 4am. Under Hampshire County Council’s plans, this would be extended so the darkness would be between midnight until 5am.
Streetlights would also be dimmed by 80 per cent between 11.30pm and midnight, and 5am to 5.30am.
The exceptions would be Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, where the lights will remain on all night.
There would be additional changes to A, B and C class roads, seeing dimming changed from 30 per cent to 45 per centre between dusk and 11.30pm, and from 25 per cent to 40 per cent between 5.30am and dawn.
Between the hours of 11.30am and 5.30am, lighting levels will remain the same, at 50 per cent.
This will save an estimated £500,000.
The proposals were approved of by 63 per cent those responding to a consultation.
- Closure of household waste centres
In all, Hampshire County Council is proposing to close 12 of its Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs), including Hartley Wintney, the nearest to West Berkshire.
It hopes to save £1.6 million as a result – nearly a fifth of its current budget for managing the council’s waste.
For the proposals it assigned each of the centres to a category, with those in tiers three and four earmarked for closure on a phased basis.
It says it can still meet its legal requirements for such services.
More than 10,000 people responded to this consultation, and just eight per cent were in favour of the closure plans, with some fearful it will lead to an increase in fly-tipping.
- Competitive (one-off) grant schemes to be axed
Three grant schemes will be withdrawn if the plan is approved.
The are the Leader’s Community grants, the Rural Communities Fund, and the Parish and Town Council Investment Fund.
The rural fund includes support to county shows.
Axing these schemes will save an estimated £481,000.
- Reduce the Hampshire Cultural Trust grant by £600,000
In the financial year that ended in April, the council made a grant of £2.5 million to fund arts and museums across the county.
There was already an agreement to reduce the grant to £2.1 million by April 2027, but it is now proposed to increase this by a further £600,000, taking it down to £1.5 million.
This could result in some venues closing and the council notes that if this is the case there would be separate consultations for these.
Affected venues include the Milestone Museum in Basingstoke, the Andover Museum and Museum of the Iron Age, Basing House and the West End Arts Centre in Aldershot.
The Andover centre is one of the venues earmarked for possible closure.
- Homelessness Support Services funding to end
Under the proposals Hampshire County Council will consider, its funding of Homelessness Support Services will end in April next year and also end six contracts and three grant agreements for the services.
This would save £2 million a year, of which £376,000 is provided to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to run May Place House.
The council says it does not have a statutory responsibility to provide these services, although it does have a duty to protect vulnerable residents and provide accommodation for those who are unintentionally homeless and have a priority need.
The HSS provides support to help people live independently, including tenancy rights, managing debts and budgeting, applying for benefits, managing health, and ensuring access to healthcare, adult social care and specialist services.
There is a fear it would lead to an increase in homelessness and rough sleeping across Hampshire.
Basingstoke and Deane Council said it felt the plan will result in a failure to meet the requirements of the Care Act 20214, and had concerns the calculations used by Hampshire were incorrect, and claims around the impact on accommodation were misleading, while Southampton University estimated the council’s figures underestimate the impact of the grant withdrawal.
- Changes to Adult Social Care Charges
Hampshire County Council wants to change the way it calculates charging to take into account all of an individual’s assessable income when carrying out assessments for care other than in a care home.
At the moment, it takes into account 95%.
This change is expected to generate an additional income of £500,000, and brings the council into line with other councils including West Berkshire.
Under the proposals, a person receiving care costing £200 a week currently contributes £73, but this would go up to £76.85.
In an impact assessment, the council thinks 14 individuals would pay an extra £21 or more a week, while two thirds would be expected to pay an additional £4 or less.
- Adult Social Care grant schemes
Hampshire Council County is being asked to approve three recommendations to deliver £620,000 of savings.
The Voluntary Infrastructure Grant would end, saving £500,000. This currently supports eight organisations across the county which in turn helps 3,750 Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise groups secure grant funding, and training sessions.
Axing the Citizens Advice infrastructure grant would save £65,000. It is spread out among 12 offices and funds training and development of staff and volunteers as well as helping fundraising efforts.
Ending the Local Solutions Grant would save £55,000. In the 2023/24 financial year, the funding was shared between 13 organisations that supported those with physical or learning disabilities, or mental health challenges.
- Reducing library stock
In a bid to save £200,000, Hampshire County Council would look to reduce its spending on new books, both digital and physical.
Obtaining new children’s books would be a priority, as would buying paperbacks over hardback books.
At the moment it spends nearly £900,000 a year on physical stock. This would reduce to £750,000.
Digital resources would be reduced from £300,000 to £250,000.
More than half the people responding to this consultation though this was a bad idea, pointing out that libraries have an important place in society, help with education and enable access to information and services.
