£1.4m budget cut faced by council (From Swindon Advertiser)
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£1.4m budget cut faced by council
9:10am Friday 11th June 2010 in News By Andy Tate
SWINDON Council is facing millions of pounds of funding cuts after the Government ordered big savings to help tackle the national deficit.
Senior councillors fear the central grant for the current financial year could be slashed by up to £4 million – and are now considering holding an emergency meeting to set a new budget.
The full details of the cuts were still unknown last night. But as council officers scrambled to work out exactly where the axe would fall the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed that the town would lose at least £1.4m in Whitehall revenue over the next few months.
The council is bracing itself to lose a further £600,000 in capital funding and up to £2m in other grants.
Mark Edwards, the council’s cabinet member for finance, told the Advertiser: “We have been expecting bad news and we got it.
“Clearly we understand why we have got this cut, after 13 years of mismanagement of the economy, but we are incredibly disappointed.
"We now need to look very hard at what we have got to do to make sure the impact on frontline services is minimal.
“We will have to look at the impact of these reductions on this year's budget in a very short space of time, in the next two or three weeks, and we will be looking at all options. An emergency budget is one of them.”
Coun Edwards also raised concerns that while Swindon faced big cuts other authorities appeared to have got off lightly.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, announcing details of the £1.16bn reduction in central grants to local government in 2010/11, insisted that the tough economic times would be “challenging for all”.
But while Swindon Council is set to lose more than a million pounds in revenue grant, other local authorities – including Cotswold District Council in Gloucestershire and New Forest in Hampshire – appeared to have escaped revenue cuts.
Coun Edwards said: “I thought there would be cuts for everybody but it looks like some areas don’t appear to have been cut.
“It would be unfair to pick on individual towns, especially those like Swindon that have worked very hard to bring down council tax and make savings.”
The cuts announced yesterday will be imposed between now and next March, with further reductions expected to be announced for future financial years at a later date. Wiltshire Council will also see its revenue grant cut by at least £2.71m.
Shadow Communities Secretary John Denham said: “The Government have decided to do these cuts in a way which hit more deprived areas hardest.”
Comments(23)
Ian13
says...
9:25am Fri 11 Jun 10
real -life
says...
9:29am Fri 11 Jun 10
SBC could shed 10% of their staff (providing it was the right 10%) and actually be more efficient. Too much deadwood, too many out of date managers holding back real change and efficiency (mainly through self interest mixed with a dash of incompetance), too many staff who are allowed to pretty much run their own jobs and do what they want with no supervison. Sorry, but the time has come to run SBC as an accountable business as all others are run.
They need to start by doing time and motion studies to see exactly what the staff do all day and how many they actually need, can assure you having spent 3 years there, the results would be staggering. Complacent doesnt even come close to describing the attitudes. I worked in a department of 30 staff who had 6 direct managers at a true cost of £1/4million a year!
The easy life is over, its time to work for a living!
Grimwald
says...
9:30am Fri 11 Jun 10
Al Smith
says...
9:40am Fri 11 Jun 10
politicrat
says...
9:45am Fri 11 Jun 10
Swindonians! will you ever learn LOL
Robh
says...
9:58am Fri 11 Jun 10
If we are realistic the cuts had to come and I don't think anyone who voted Tory or Lib Dem were mislead. They knew it was going to be hard but many households have been through it with IVA's etc.
Old Town
says...
10:13am Fri 11 Jun 10
.
We all know that this is a problem caused by a lot of things - very much including the last Labour idiots....
.
Politiprat - please stop this "people of Swindon baiting" - you make yourself so very unpopular when you keep doing this - please try to grow up a bit.....
politicrat
says...
10:15am Fri 11 Jun 10
Robh wrote:you are a fool, you all are!
Back to 79'. Another Labour government who have been living beyond our means. If we are realistic the cuts had to come and I don't think anyone who voted Tory or Lib Dem were mislead. They knew it was going to be hard but many households have been through it with IVA's etc.
You have been sold a scam and you are taking it.
1- the level of debts is nowhere near as bad as what it was after WW2 and still a lot better than most EU countries even the USA!
2- Conservatives want us all to think about cuts and austerity whilst letting most of the rich and powerful scot free (CGT, IT, Pensions etc...)
What we see is that the pain will squarely be on the general population whilst profiting the Wealthy.
The UK Society will become like the US with a tiny minority holding all the powers: plutonomy
toastie2
says...
10:46am Fri 11 Jun 10
It makes no difference who is running
government, these problems have needed to be sorted out for a very long time. The good times are over SBC, now we need a responsible council that works for a living.
Bobfm
says...
10:56am Fri 11 Jun 10
In those circumstances one would have thought that the Council, and the two MP's could have made a cast iron case for no cuts, based on years of apparent underfunding.
Either Justin or Rob and Rod haven't bothered or there was simply no case in the first place, and believe me I like most were glad to see the back of Labour.
Billy Jo
says...
11:09am Fri 11 Jun 10
How can the two new tory MP's OR the coalition government be held responsible for this when it is quite clear that the last bunch of morons screwed the economy so badly and desperately threw OUR money down the pan in an attempt to cling on to power.
£1.3 trillion down the pan and people wonder why cuts have to be made.
Brown and Darling have a hell of a lot to answer for.
Bobfm
says...
11:15am Fri 11 Jun 10
That has nothing to do with blame. Both stated their intention to do their best for the Town. This has been the first test.
Bobfm
says...
11:39am Fri 11 Jun 10
http://tinyurl.com/2
ukto8j
Mr Blackwell
says...
1:19pm Fri 11 Jun 10
.
When Labour were in power, for 13 years, and were throwing our money around like confetti, Swindon was cruelly deprived of funding.
.
Now that the Lib Dem/Tory coalition are attempting to put right the economic havoc caused by Labour, Swindon is facing a comparatively small budget cut of just £1.4m - which, if managed correctly, will barely be noticeable.
.
I'm pleased to see the new government taking the necessary steps.
Hangbrownhigh
says...
3:10pm Fri 11 Jun 10
swindonborn1979
says...
3:34pm Fri 11 Jun 10
Trend
says...
4:38pm Fri 11 Jun 10
I Too
says...
5:41pm Fri 11 Jun 10
All that money to thrash around, on expensive water features, millionaire parties in the park, a big screen that doesn't get watched, a taxpayer funded wifi business venture, £4 million to spend on paving.
How can they claim to be under funded?
Phantom Poster
says...
8:24pm Fri 11 Jun 10
Hangbrownhigh wrote:He's just a troll. He thinks that calling everone else idiots will get him attention.
I truly think that Politiprat needs to go into a dark room and have a little lie down. Having seen his inane ramblings for a while I really do think it's time you popped down for a little chat with your GP. A--e and elbow come to mind!
I find it really funny his "you are a fool, you all are!" statement resulted in absolutely no reponse to the text which followed. Exactly the opposite of what he wanted!
Phantom Poster
says...
8:29pm Fri 11 Jun 10
Phantom Poster wrote:Has anyone else noticed that politiprat only seems to post during mid-week business hours (and then constantly)? It doesn't exactly support his implications of being a "captain of industry"!
Hangbrownhigh wrote:He's just a troll. He thinks that calling everone else idiots will get him attention.
I truly think that Politiprat needs to go into a dark room and have a little lie down. Having seen his inane ramblings for a while I really do think it's time you popped down for a little chat with your GP. A--e and elbow come to mind!
I find it really funny his "you are a fool, you all are!" statement resulted in absolutely no reponse to the text which followed. Exactly the opposite of what he wanted!
mrsdoubtfire
says...
6:34am Sat 12 Jun 10
I Too
says...
9:59pm Sun 13 Jun 10
SBC need a good shake up,
to take more interest in the existing residents, and roots of the town.
The way Swindon is going, it will soon be as presentable as........ Slough?
Bobfm says...
9:14am Fri 11 Jun 10