Below is part of an article produced in the Brighton Evening Argus about residents concerns in Brighton and Hove of the Green Party Council cutting front line services, such as Children's services to vulnerable and disabled young people and children whilst increasing the council tax above the rate of inflation.
It was good that Councillor Rob White finally started to talk about what the Greens would do rather than just report to the council, issues related to Park Ward with no intention of providing any solutions.
I know that a Labour Administration lobbied by Rachel Chrisp, Labour candidate in Park Ward has pushed for;
a new age 11 to 19 secondary school in East Reading:
Secured places for East Reading children in Maiden Erlegh and Bulmershe Schools by working with Wokingham Unitary Authority;
Secured funding for at least another year for the East Reading After School Club, working with East Reading Primary Schools to make all After School Clubs viable:
Ensured that the extension to St John's School has gone ahead, vastly improving the buildings and fabric of the school:
Ensured that £1.4m has been re-invested back into Children's Services, securing front line services for disabled children and young people;
working with the voluntary sector to enhance youth club facilities and extra resources at Sun Street and protecting universal services to children and young people.
This is what Labour has to offer the residents, families and young people of East Reading. The Green alternative to this commitment is more tax hikes and less front line services.
Have Greens listened to Brighton and Hove?
10:43am Monday 6th February 2012
By James Wallin
Taxpayers have had their say on cuts to services and a council tax rise.
The Green administration has insisted it is listening to the residents of Brighton and Hove but opposition councillors say the Greens have ignored many of the requests in their own consultation.
They have called for the Greens to go further on reducing hikes to parking permits and cutting public toilets and have said overwhelming opposition to a council tax rise should be taken on board.
The Greens say they have made a number of concessions in response to the consultation, including reducing cuts to children’s centres and the music service.
They have also revised increases to parking permits for traders.
Conservative leader Geoffrey Theobald said the single most important call from residents was for a u-turn on council tax.
Coun Theobald said: “It seems like pure political dogma to stick with a policy they have had since May when the opposition to it over that time has been made very clear.
“The Greens may have consulted but they have not listened.”
Finance cabinet member Jason Kitcat said: “Overall many people through a variety of consultation channels expressed strong support for services they know, value and use.
"In the face of huge government-imposed cuts, the best way we can protect the services people depend on is through our council tax proposals.
“Naturally people would like more for less, and we are pushing very hard for greater efficiency, but that can only ever go so far."
Below are some of the responses to the authority's own consultation process.
Community and voluntary sector
Back office costs should be slashed to protect services provided by volunteers.
This is the view of the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum (CVSF), which says its services are needed now more than ever.
A statement on the budget proposals by Brighton and Hove CVSF said: “Whilst we are grateful for the ongoing commitment to maintain the grants programmes in 2012/13, our membership believes that small volunteer run services need greater support than ever from the city council.
“In young people, prevention of homelessness and Supporting People in particular the preventative community led services provided by our members are impacted by this budget.”
‘City News’ readers
Responses to a budget consultation in the council’s quarterly magazine, City News, sparked suggestions ranging from cutting that publication to charging a toll for entry to Brighton.
A response from Hove-based solicitors, Osman Ward and Sons, expressed concern about increasing council tax.
It said: “Apart from the current proposals leading to a great feeling of dissension within the community, the proposals are going to place a great strain on the very people in the community who are doing as much as they can in the present economic circumstances.”
Another said: “In the current environment it is unacceptable to see any increases in council tax. "Rather than cutting small amounts from all departments surely it is better to cut entire functions/teams.”
The writer went on to suggest cutting communications and marketing, including stopping City News, PR, internal technology of council staff and the salaries of the top 300 directors and managers.
The response also suggested asking councillors to give back a percentage of their allowances.
Management
Cuts to senior council management could save millions of pounds every year, according to an opposition group leader.
Labour and Co-op leader Gill Mitchell claims the Greens’ proposed £450,000 of savings over the next two years in management savings is not enough.
Coun Mitchell said: “I estimate the total senior management costs of the council are £3.5 million and 50% of that has no association with delivering services.
“We have got a chief executive and then two groups under him – the strategic directors and then under them a whole raft of commissioners who do not directly deal with budgets or people.
"It is the heads of service under them that are doing that. There are major savings that could be made here.”
The Greens have announced one strategic director will go as part of the budget savings but finance cabinet member Jason Kitcat yesterday said no decision had been reached on which post would be lost.
The controversial £125,000-a-year strategic director posts were brought in under the previous Conservative administration. Their introduction was opposed by the Greens.
Coun Kitcat disputed Coun Mitchell’s figures.
He said: “This is simply not the case now or in recent history. In 2004/5, under a Labour administration, senior management costs were £2.75 million.
"Now they are £2.39 million and we are seeking to remove a further £450,000 from that over two years.”
Olders people
Budgets for “people” rather than “place” should be prioritised, according to older people.
Representatives of a variety of pensioner groups said public toilet closures and cuts to meals on wheels were key concerns.
A letter to the council read: “The extremely challenging nature of the cuts required to the council’s budget were well understood by all.
"However there was a general feeling that those budgets relating to ‘place’ should be revisited to maximise savings to ensure that ‘people’ budgets can be further protected.”
It went on to praise the decision not to change the eligibility criteria for accessing adult social services but said a number of specific proposals were concerning, including the future of community meals where £50,000 is due to be saved from a £243,000 budget in 2012/13 through a review of the service.
The letter also mentioned concerns about the loss of public toilets and bus routes.
Children with special needs
The council has been urged to reconsider “the needs of some of the most vulnerable families in Brighton and Hove”.
Rachel Travers, the director of Queens Road-based Amaze, a support group for parents and carers of young people with special needs, wrote to the council to express her concerns about the budget.
She said the impact on the families of about 7,000 children and young families in the city with special needs would be “disproportionate and unacceptably high”.
She added: “Some proposals will directly impact on these families’ ability to cope and short term savings now are likely to result in higher costs later if the families go into crisis and their child needs residential care.
"I understand that the average cost of just one family falling into crisis and needing a residential placement for their disabled child is £180,000.”
Ms Travers went on to seek reassurance there would be investment in support for parents and carers of children with disabilities and that short breaks would be protected.
She also expressed concern at cuts to the education welfare service, which monitors school attendance, home to school transport, children’s centres and public toilets.
In new budget proposals the Greens say they will “protect funding for carers and respite care to help families stay together wherever possible”.
They have also reduced planned cuts to children’s centres but are still carrying out a review of services which will include looking at “the number of children’s centres and the services they deliver”. This will require a £50,000 cut to the £2.9 million budget in the coming year but a £500,000 saving for 2013/14.
The authority has announced two blocks of public toilets, Saunders Park and Vale Park, will be spared from the axe but toilets in Hove Cemetery Northside, Hove Recreation Ground, Norton Road (during the week) and Victoria Recreation Ground are to close.
Young people
Help for problem families, effective transport and support for the vulnerable are all concerns for young people. The council discussed the budget with 11 members of the Youth Council in December.
One of the key concerns for them was the £38,000 savings identified in the Family Intervention Project, which helps troubled families.
They also stressed the importance of subsidising bus routes and creating cycle lanes as well as protecting Sure Start centres and ensuring respite care was available for carers.
The group said: “Families should be supported, as feel this will have a detrimental effect on young people in the long term if they’re not.”
The budget proposals say: “A range of family intervention projects across the council will be consolidated to improve efficiency while sustaining or improving the outcomes for the most vulnerable.”
They also include a planned £66,000 cut from subsidised transport routes which will see “unviable services with very poor patronage” reduced or withdrawn. There will be a £64,000 cut in costs for citywide children’s centres as a result of the Sure Start grant ending.
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