Labour's financial incompetence leads to service cuts

12.04.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 12th Jan 2008

The overspend on the Pedestrian Heart scheme - a figure which is still not finalised but will be something over £2million - has put severe pressure on the Labour Cabinet as they attempt to produce a budget for the coming year. With pressure on the capital account - made worse by another overspend on the Eastern Transport Corridor - now there is real pressure on the revenue account too.

Officer recommendations to Cabinet next week include an inflation-busting Council Tax increase of 4.9%, significant job losses and cuts in public services. Darlington Council Tax payers are entitled to ask, just what are we getting for this 5% increase? The answer: a lot less than before!

The Council are looking to make savings of £2.233million, a figure which is suspiciously similar to the projected overspend on the Pedestrian Heart.

As well as internal savings and redundancies, which may have a severe effect on staff morale and performance, Cabinet is being asked to make big cuts in service provision.

Among the proposed cuts are:

Reduce the winter gritting and salting programme;

Introduce and increase charges for non-residential adult care services, particularly for adults with learning disabilities;

Cease support of the Ring and Ride Service;

Stop providing civil advice by Trading Standards Department;

Increase long-stay car parking charges;

Remove some bus subsidies;

Reduce Environmental Health inspections;

Abolish the Council's pest control service;

Charge for bulky household waste collections;

Stop grants to Parish Councils.

The internal savings include a massive £403,000 from reorganisation of Children's Services. This includes £152,000 from School Improvement and Development, at a time when the performances of several Council run schools are giving cause for concern.

Overall, the proposed budget represents a shocking indictment of the performance of the Labour Council over the past year.