Leader calls for new-look councils

THe leader of a Yorkshire council has called on local authorities to admit they will not be able to provide all their current services in the future and to work with the private and voluntary sectors to find alternatives.
The Leeds skylineThe Leeds skyline
The Leeds skyline

Councillor Mehboob Khan, leader of Kirklees Council, said it was time for a fundamental shift in the relationship between councils and their communities.

He was speaking at the launch of a new report following weeks of discussions with community groups across Kirklees about the future role of the authority and the financial challenges it faces.

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Its publication coincided with new figures from neighbouring Calderdale Council showing it is expecting to have to save £23.9m by 2017, a figure which would take the total cut since 2010 to £96m.

Councils across Yorkshire estimated they will have cut around £1bn by 2016.

Coun Khan said: “Up until now people haven’t seen any major front line services shut so they think its a phoney war about cuts but it’s not. There are some very serious and difficult decisions which have to be made in the next couple of years which will have a massive impact.”

He pointed to the proposed community takeover of the library in Denby Dale as an example of how communities could step in.

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A further round of discussions will take place in the coming months where people will have their say on where the council should put its efforts.

Calderdale Council is one of the first in the region to publish new financial forecasts following Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement in June that local government would need to make further savings. The figures suggest the authority will need to cut £3.2m from next year’s budget with a further £10m in each of the following two years.

Calderdale council leader Tim Swift described the cuts in funding as “devastating”.

“We will set up a process that revisits each of the directorates and looking to see if there is anything we can do to reduce the cost of providing services,” he said. “But we are reaching the point where we will be asking if there are activities we just can’t continue doing.

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“By 2017 we will have had to cut 40 per cent of planned spending in 2010, it is way above the scale of anything local government has had to manage.”

Conservative group leader Stephen Baines criticised the assumption that council tax will rise by two per cent in coming years when the Government has promised extra funding to councils who limit rises to one per cent.

He said: “At long last after three years of us banging on about looking at more integrated services with other authorities in the area they are at least saying they will look at it. That is the only way we are going to get substantial savings and this is what is happening elsewhere.

“Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham councils are on course to make savings of £40m per year through joint services.”

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Coun Baines said research by Conservative groups across West Yorkshire suggested that by working better together councils could save around £60m. He also suggested the authority should consider whether more services could be privatised.

The financial warnings came as Leeds City Council unveiled plans for new trading arm as it looks to sell more of its external services to boost public coffers.

Civic Enterprise Leeds Ltd would seek to develop new income streams for the council as bosses try to slash around £51m.

The council’s decision-making executive board will consider the proposals today as they debate the possible closure of four of the city’s older people’s homes.