As the true extent of planned cuts in public spending becomes clearer (From The Northern Echo)

As the true extent of planned cuts in public spending becomes clearer

8:49am Tuesday 27th July 2010 in

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A CLEARER picture of the impact of savage public sector cuts is beginning to emerge as the region’s councils draw up plans to slash £400m off their budgets.

Councils in the region need to find savings of more than £45m during this financial year, a survey by The Northern Echo has revealed.

The full extent of the pain inflicted by the Government’s measures to reduce the deficit will not be known until the spending review on October 20.

However, councils are braced for further cuts of at least £350m over the next four years.

Yesterday, North Yorkshire County Council became the latest authority to publish plans on tackling some of its shortfall.

The authority – which needs to find savings of about £100m over the next four years – proposed reducing spending on public transport and children’s services.

Under the plans, bus services would be cancelled in the evenings and weekends and concessionary bus ticket holders would be unable to travel for free before 9.30am.

The council is also considering removing school transport for pupils attending faith schools and introducing charges for young people over 16 with special educational needs. Music tuition provided by the council to schoolchildren could be cancelled or parents charged higher fees.

The £1m subsidy to the council’s outdoor education centres could also end.

Cynthia Welbourn, the council’s corporate director for children and young people services, said job losses were inevitable.

She said: “These measures are unfortunately unavoidable, given the financial pressures on the county council, and the additional cuts in grants announced by the Department for Education in June.”

Town hall bosses throughout the North-East have begun revealing their initial strategies for dealing with the deficit.

In Darlington, public transport, after-school clubs, concessionary schemes for the elderly and disabled, and CCTV management are some of the areas likely to be cut.

Simon Henig, leader of Durham County Council, has warned that job losses are inevitable, with his authority being hit harder than any other in the region.

Last week, councillors controversially agreed to close seven care homes.

Members said the £35m bill to save the homes was totally disproportionate and unaffordable when the authority potentially needs to find £100m of savings over the next four years.

Talking about the regional picture, Councillor Henig said: “The cuts being talked about are both huge and unprecedented.

“It’s inevitably going to mean cuts in the bone of council services, simply because we cannot make this level of efficiency services elsewhere.”

Union leaders fear widespread job losses in a region with a higher-than-average number of public sector workers.

Kenny Bell, Newcastle branch secretary of trade union Unison, said: “Spending on staff accounts for 80 per cent of councils’ budgets, so job losses are inevitable.

“We’re talking about up to 50,000 public sector jobs going over the lifetime of the Parliament, with councils being the hardest hit.”

According to Mr Bell, the cuts raised an “equalities issue”, as up to 70 per cent of local government workers are women.

Paul Watson, chairman of the Association of North-East Councils, said local authorities would be working together to attempt to influence the comprehensive spending review to the advantage of the region.