Liberal Democrats Fight Conservative Cuts Plan

Liberal Democrats have been fighting back against the devastating cuts plan put forward by the Mayor and the Conservative-led council. This week the Council’s Budget Scrutiny Committee focused on the £11m cuts plan that has been proposed.

The cross-party Committee agreed that it had concerns about the impacts of the savings, which were likely to be significant. However, many of the details and equality impacts are not clear.

Cllr Michael Headley has said, “Remember we didn’t have to be in this situation. There has been a 2 year experiment in denying reality and increasing spending, rather than looking for efficiencies. And we had a budget set this year that was obviously inadequate.”

“When, inevitably that strategy runs out of money, the administration is left scrabbling around for quick cuts rather than a well thought through multi-year efficiency drive.”

“We’ve got cuts that will impact a large majority of residents, like charging for green waste collections and reducing the amount of grass cutting and grounds maintenance.

Cuts to Libraries and family hub services.

Car park charges will be going up again after the 10% increase this year.

Economic Development will be slashed, just as the council should be poised to benefit from the Universal investment.

And those most in need will see their council tax bills rocket.

Overall, this is a very troubling state of affairs.”