Nearly half of £114m council cuts to come from frontline services (From The Northern Echo)

Nearly half of £114m council cuts to come from frontline services

DURHAM County Council will have to save nearly £115m over the next four years under Government spending cuts, it has emerged.

MAKING THEIR POINT: Union members opposing council redundancies at their protest outside Durham County Hall on Wednesday

Labour-run Durham County Council’s deputy leader, Alan Napier, said the Coalition’s funding settlement was probably the worst the authority had faced for “many, many generations”.

Council leader Coun Simon Henig said the Government had acted unfairly, with poorer areas hit hardest.

Last week, the council announced plans to axe 1,600 jobs; with its entire 10,041- strong directly-employed workforce asked if they wanted early retirement or voluntary redundancy.

On Wednesday, more details emerged of where the axe is likely to fall.

Finance chiefs are planning to cut £114.6m by 2015, including £34.6m from adults, wellbeing and health. Nearly half (48.6 per cent) of savings is to come from frontline services.

The council’s mainstream grant funding has been cut by 15 per cent for next year, contributing to a £10m budget gap.

Coun Joe Armstrong said: “This is an unprecedented settlement in the history of local government.”

Coun Henig said: “We have been planning for it but we’ve got the worst case scenario.”

But he added: “I confidently feel we will still be in a good position compared to other councils.”

Councillors will decide what to cut in February.

However, on their way into Durham’s County Hall, they faced a protest from more than 100 members of the Unison and GMB trade unions angry at the job losses and reduced redundancy pay-outs.

Unison regional organiser Howard Pink said many higher paid staff had received generous pay-outs and it was grossly unfair to cut terms for lower-paid staff leaving under the current cutbacks.

“This is the worst of all times to be considering cutting terms. There’s a mixture of anger and anxiety. With that number of jobs going, everyone’s thinking: could it be me?”

He said further protests could follow and refused to rule out strike action.

Don McLure, the council’s director of resources, said: “As a result of the Government reductions, it has been necessary to review the council’s ER/VR (early retirement/voluntary redundancy) policy as the existing arrangements would not have been affordable.”

Councillors had agreed the most generous option the authority could afford, he added.

Durham MP Roberta Blackman- Woods “These ideologically- driven cuts will have a disastrous impact on council services.

“Durham County Council is taking the right approach, though, by reviewing every single service and going out to consult on what the cuts will mean.”