Council’s cuts bill soars to new high
8:48am Wednesday 15th December 2010 in News
TOWN Hall chiefs face a race against time to slash £36 million from the council budget by next April.
In June, Bolton Council’s powerful executive authorised £15 million of cuts, a figure which rose to £22 million following the Comprehensive Spending Review. Now, following the Government’s grants settlement announcement on Monday, the amount which Bolton Council will lose in grants and have to find in efficiency savings is between £34 million and £36 million.
TOWN Hall chiefs have warned nothing is safe from the axe after revealing they are now being forced to find £36 million of cuts and savings before April.
Originally Bolton Council was expected to find £15 million of cuts from next year’s budget — a figure which rose to £22 million after the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
Now, after the Government announced its grant settlement to local authorities, the worst fears of council chiefs have been realised. Steve Arnfield, the council’s director of finance, warned yesterday: “This will have an impact because there is no way it can’t have. We have saved £15 million so far and now have three months to find the rest.”
Senior officials at the Town Hall will now spend the next few weeks having a fresh look at all savings options before reporting to the decision-making executive in January.
The latest blow came as a result of Bolton losing around £19 million worth of grants, some of which is not ringfenced and could be spent on anything, the rest which is set aside for specific schemes.
Many of those schemes funded by specific grants — those aimed at helping the most vulnerable and deprived—are the ones at risk.
Of the £15 million worth of grants aimed primarily at children’s services, the council has been told it has lost at least half, while the capital funding for schools, which was £25 million this year, has also been almost halved.
Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris last night blasted the Coalition Government and Conservative group leader Cllr John Walsh.
He said: “It is clear to everyone we are not in this together. I was accused by opposition leaders of scaremongering but these figures show I was, in fact, being realistic.
“Cllr Walsh has often said he wants to go through every line of the budget.
“He will have a chance, because all these savings have to be found from somewhere so they will go to policy development groups and the opposition will have the chance to have their say.”
Cllr Walsh admitted the situation was “not good”
but said he did not feel now was the time for a knee-jerk reaction.
He added: “There is still a lot of uncertainty and clarity needed and the figures have only been out for 24 hours.
“It is not going to be easy but there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Roger Hayes said he would be having “a lot of sleepless nights” if he were in Cllr Morris’ position.
He added: “It is going to be very challenging. There are still a few things I want to get some clarity over but I think the council may have to take on board some of the savings options we put forward last year, things like a move back to the committee system, albeit a slimmed down version, and scrapping the Bolton Scene newspaper which is a luxury.”
In 2012/13, Mr Arnfield believes the council will have to make savings of £20 million — taking the figure over the next two years close to the £60 million originally factored in over the next four years.
