City pledge on impact of cuts

THE new boss of Leeds City Council has pledged to work with the region’s business leaders to ease the impact of Government cuts on the private sector.

Tom Riordan also said he believes that frontline services can not only be maintained, but improved despite impending cuts of up to 25 per cent in central government funding.

The authority has already announced that it is axing around 1,400 jobs, with 300 expected to go this year.

Mr Riordan, who joined the council this month from regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, said he plans to have an open dialogue with business, explaining the authority’s plans for the future and on which services the axe will fall.

He said: “We will be looking at the impact of the cuts as a whole – for example each department could put forward perfectly good efficiency programmes, but when taken together they could mean that an organisation in the city goes under.

“We have to look at the impact on the business community and give businesses an idea of where we are heading, what our plans are, so they can make their plans.

“That is why we intend to have an open dialogue and consultation with all stakeholders in the city before our budget next year.”

Mr Riordan admitted he faced a significant challenge with such major cuts in funding and warned the divide between North and South could widen, but was confident the problems could be overcome.

The central challenge was to chart a course which could reduce the council’s costs while improving frontline services.

“We have got to look at how we can provide a much more integrated service on the front line,” he said.