Provision for young scaled back to only ‘most vulnerable’ category

The Labour-led authority has announced that the concept of universal provision’’ for young people will end as part of its £15m programme of cuts, with only the neediest catered for in the future.

The authority will also end its £1m-a-year school improvement service, aimed at raising education standards across the district.

Major changes to care for the elderly and vulnerable are also under way, with day services under review and millions of pounds to be removed from the adult services budget in years to come.

Two residential care homes have already been earmarked for closure, and many day centres are likely to follow.

The authority says that as people are given increasing control of their own care budgets, demand for council services has dropped. For example, it said the number of people with learning disabilities using day centres in North Lincolnshire “has dropped in recent years from 200 to 60, as more options have become available.”

Big cuts have also been lined up to school bus services, which will be scaled back to the absolute legal minimum. Some young people who previously qualified for school transport funding may find they no longer do so.

The tourist information centre in Brigg is to be closed, with the service moved into Scunthorpe Library, and library services across the district will be hit by slashed budgets for new books and reduced opening hours and staffing levels. The mobile library service will also be scaled back.

Other council-run facilities such as the Visual Arts Centre and North Lincolnshire Museum will also suffer reduced opening hours, and leisure centres will run fewer activities. Weekend street-sweeping will also be scaled back.