More cuts to come for West Berkshire Council
A FURTHER £16m of cuts are expected at West Berkshire Council as “increasingly tough decisions” need to be made, councillors confirmed this week.
Executive member for finance Roger Croft was speaking in the wake of the Local Government Association’s warning of a £10 billion shortfall facing councils in England and Wales.
An LGA spending review published on Tuesday warned that the more than 370 local authorities in England and Wales will have their purses squeezed as a result of new Tory policies, including the relaxing of some payments in the form of Section 106 agreements.
Councillor Croft said: “We’re acutely aware of the financial constraints we’ve been working under for some years and that further savings will need to be found.
“We anticipate that we will need to find savings of around £16 million over the next three years and our financial plan for this period reflects this.
“This comes on top of savings we’ve already found, so if we’re to continue to live within our means we’re going to have to make increasingly tough decisions. Our overriding aim will be to protect our frontline services as far as possible.
“We’re currently working on the budget for next year and we will be launching a consultation on the details in the autumn.”
Speaking of the national picture, LGA chairman and councillor Gary Porter said: “Enormous pressure will be heaped on already-stretched local services if the Government fails to fully assess the impact of these unfunded cost burdens when making its spending decisions.
“Vital services, such as caring for the elderly, protecting children, collecting bins, filling potholes and maintaining our parks and green spaces, will simply struggle to continue at current levels.”
Since 2010 there has been a 40 per cent reduction in state funding to all local councils according to the LGA, which has led to a reduction in staff numbers by 350,000 council employees, the closure of 470 libraries and 150,000 fewer people receiving adult social care.
In West Berkshire, several services were already cut last year in a drive to reduce costs by £5.6m, including the axing of 23 jobs and through reductions to the road safety budget and funding public toilets.
It was previously confirmed in the 2015/16 budget that a further £5.9m would be cut, which leaves a remaining balance of £10.1m in savings until 2018.
