How will government cuts affect Northumberland? (Morpeth & District Liberal Democrats)

Morpeth & District Liberal Democrats <info@morpethlibdems.org.uk>

How will government cuts affect Northumberland?

June 6, 2011 9:35 AM

As part of their response to the huge deficit in the national finances, caused by the global recession and collapse of the banking system, the Government has decided to cut grants to local councils over the next 4 years by 28%. Labour now claim they would make less cuts, but in reality the seriousness of the national financial situation would have caused them to something very similar. The effect in Northumberland is that the council is forced to reduce its running costs by £111 million by 2014, including a massive £46 million in the coming year. These huge cuts can only be achieved by a large reduction in staff numbers, combined with major improvements in the way council departments work with each other and with other partner organisations. The Liberal Democrat minority administration has finalised its proposals for how to make these savings in the coming year. These include a halving of senior management posts and reduced middle management posts in every department of the council. The impact on vital services to county residents will be minimised by this concentration on working better and more efficiently, but inevitably some areas of service will be reduced and some charges will be increased. Overall, the Lib Dem proposals avoid the draconian cuts in major services being proposed by other councils around the country, while freezing Council Tax at last year's level. Whilst the Liberal Democrats are the largest group on Northumberland Council, they do not have an overall majority and can only get things done with the support of councillors from other parties. The administration has worked hard to listen to ideas from all councillors and, as a result, the budget was formally agreed at the Council meeting on 23^{rd of February.}

Andrew Tebbutt, Councillor for Kirkhill, who has been in charge of developing this budget proposal, said:

"I would like to pay tribute to council staff at all levels, who have worked so hard in the past year to make possible these unprecedented efficiency savings, whilst at the same time continuing to deliver very good services. For example, the response to the extreme winter weather before Christmas saw Morpeth better served than in previous years, despite all the worries affecting all council employees. I much regret that anyone should lose their job due to these cuts in government funding, but I and my colleagues are determined to achieve the savings in the best way possible."