The cuts programme has so far been regarded by many in our communities to be something of a phoney war. Job loss numbers have been known but no one quite knew which jobs would go. Local residents knew services would be cut but not which services they would lose. But the phoney war is now over and the battle of the cuts has truly begun.
In Manchester where the shock loss of some 2,000 jobs was recently announced the council has now poured over every aspect of the budget. http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2011/02/cuts-watch-376-manchester-city-council-publishes-proposed-budget-cuts/
The services that will go or be reduced to barely a skeleton level make damning reading. £45m to go from children’s services including the closure of Sure Start centres, the whole of the Youth Service and early years teaching posts. All Libraries will close on Fridays and Sundays with 6 closing all together. 29% of the total service budget will come out of neighbourhood services including street cleansing and bin collections. Ironically a poke in the eye to Mr Pickles who has advocated a return to weekly bin collections the council in Manchester has been forced to introduce fortnightly collections in response to his cuts agenda.
And the list goes on. At least 3 swimming pools will close and a further leisure centre, in one of the poorest areas of the city will need a ‘new provider’ if it is to remain open. Even the free debt advice service will be scrapped just at the point when the service is most acutely needed.
Incredulously the City is aiming for some social enterprise or voluntary groups to take over some of the services. If there is no money to keep them running by the Council then how can third sector providers, reliant upon grants that will be cut by the same Council possibly hope to deliver the services?
The Tory ministers have argued that Manchester doesn’t have to make cuts of this magnitude but the reality of the cuts to sure start and other services are directly linked to the ring fenced grants savagely snatched from the poorest areas to support better settlements in the Tory shires.
It is the poorest who most rely on the very services that are being cut. Those without a choice to go to a private gym or a private nursery but value the sure start centre and the local swimming pool. Those without internet access at home who will miss out on the local libraries and the services they provide.
Far from the Big Society this brings to mind a pre-election mantra of Cameron who accused labour of creating a broken society. Nothing can be more broken than the brutal cuts that will hit the poorest communities. Council leader Richard Leese has described the cuts process as wretched. On that point we all agree.
