Leeds City Council: Efficiency argument fails to save vital services

Leeds City Council has confirmed it will be forced to make the largest cuts in the entire region this year as it battles to save £90m from its annual spending budget.

Some 1,500 jobs will be lost over the next 12 months as the authority scales back spending in almost every area – rising to 3,000 job losses by 2015.

Few aspects of city life will be left untouched, with facilities closing across the board.

As many as 20 of the city’s 53 libraries have been earmarked for closure as part of a full-scale review of the entire service.

East Leeds Leisure Centre will definitely close, as will the swimming pool at Middleton Leisure Centre. Crèche facilities will also be closed at many centres.

Bramley baths and Garforth Leisure will both suffer hugely reduced opening hours, the former sparking protests last week from local schoolchildren who have been told their daytime swimming lessons are to be cancelled as the pool will no longer open before 4pm.

Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves raised the matter at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, asking David Cameron how the proposal “fits with the Government’s ambition for school sports and for the Olympic legacy for Leeds?”

Care for the elderly and the vulnerable will also be hit hard, with the closure of Leeds Crisis Centre another major loss to the city. The centre is designed as a first point of call for people who have suffered an unexpected crisis and do not know how to cope, with professional counsellors offering a free 365-days-a-year service to those in desperate need. Its funding has been withdrawn entirely.

Between eight and 12 day centres and residential care homes for people with serious mental disabilities will also close, with the exact number still to be decided following public consultation.

Two hostels for the homeless – The Hollies and Richmond Court – will also be shut as the council’s spending cutbacks grow to £160m by 2015.

Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan told the Yorkshire Post he understood why the widespread closure of facilities was causing significant unrest among city residents, but insisted such decisions are necessary to maintain the best possible service during times of constrained spending.

“We appreciate how strongly people feel,” he said. “We appreciate how attached people get to buildings in their community, we can totally understand that.

“But the most important thing is making sure the services provided are the right ones.”

The city’s free city centre bus service looks certain to end after the council withdrew all funding from the end of this month.

Regional transport authority Metro is now battling to save the service in some form, with the introduction of fares likely to be the only viable alternative to scrapping the buses altogether.

New charges will also be introduced for events such as Opera in the Park and Classical Fantasia, though Party in the Park will remain free.

Grants to charities and arts organisations are to be cut, with the full implications for many organisations as yet unclear.

However, Archway, which has been offering counselling and advice services to young people for over a decade, has said it is in danger of closure after being told its funding could be cut by as much as 40 per cent.

Mr Riordan said the council’s ability to deal with such huge cuts should put an end to the barrage of criticism suggesting most councils are not run efficiently.

“Local government has made major efficiency savings over the last five to ten years and is now one of the most productive parts of the public sector, but the perception is that there can be more efficiencies made,” he said.

“Hopefully this will show people that at the end of this (process), they will have a council that most would consider extremely efficiently run.”