Doncaster Council: Threat to wardens and libraries fuels anger over Mayor’s savings

But protests have been almost as vociferous over his decision to end the town’s warden visiting service for elderly and vulnerable residents, saving £1m a year.

Around 4,000 residents rely on the service, designed to keep them safe and prevent them feeling isolated in their homes.

But Doncaster now plans to scrap the daily visits and replace them with free home alarm systems, which it says will keep people just as safe. In an emergency, vulnerable people can trigger the alarm and a mobile warden will be dispatched to their homes.

The authority wants volunteer befrienders to take on the visiting role previously provided by the wardens. Overall, the council says it is pouring extra millions into adult social care budgets.

Mayor Davies last month pulled back from his controversial plan to close 14 of the town’s 26 libraries this year after Labour councillors refused to back the plan. The Save Doncaster’s Libraries campaign had attracted 14,000 signatures from angry members of the public to a petition of protest handed to council bosses.

The authority now says the libraries will continue to receive funding for another 12 months using cash reserves, while officers further evaluate the service.

But no long-term funding plan has been put in place, and protesters insist the Mayor has offered nothing more than a temporary stay of execution. They say they will continue the fight to maintain library services in the town.

For his part, the Mayor says he recognises the value of libraries but cannot keep buildings open “just because they’ve always been there.”

Other big cuts agreed by the council include slashing the school improvement budget by £3.5m, with consultants currently employed to draw up school curriculums to be dropped.

Funding for City Learning Centres will also be withdrawn, with the council saying they must become self-sustaining businesses if they are to survive.

Two residential care homes for the elderly are to close, as are one day centre and two household recycling centres,

School dinner prices are to be increased, as are fees and charges at museums, leisure centres and arts centres.

Grant cuts will include the ending of funding for the Doncaster Youth Jazz Organisation, which was receiving £44,000 a year.

And leisure, museums and arts services will also lose staff and funds, although no outright closures of public facilities have been announced.