'Hurt' inevitable as council saves £2.6m

MORE than 50 jobs will be lost and many other cuts made as a result of South Cambridgeshire District Council's disastrous budget capping.

Full details of the proposed cuts have been revealed in a 40-page report published before a crunch cabinet meeting.

Lights along footpaths will be switched off, Police Community Support Officers are to be axed, grants for arts projects will go and many charges will rise. Free tea and coffee for staff, costing more than £16,000 a year, is also on the way out.

Around 20 posts will be lost as a direct result of the Government's demand to cut £2.6 million from the council's budget.

Eleven of these will come from redundancies and the rest will come through deleting vacant posts.

There will also be 30 posts lost in the Sheltered Housing service, 20 of which will result in redundancies.

The Sheltered Housing department is not funded from the council's main budget but the job losses are an indirect result of the cuts.

There are also likely to be several jobs lost at charities and grant-funded bodies in the area who are set to lose thousands of pounds of funding from the council.

Council leader Sebastian Kindersley admitted the cuts were bound to hurt the district, but the council had no option.

He said: "Obviously these are not going to be popular but I think residents will understand that we don't have a choice - it's as simple as that.

"We have spent a lot of time letting residents know the potential implications of capping so people are aware.

"It's all extremely regrettable but the fact of the matter is we have done what we said we would do, which is to go away and try to find £2.6 million worth of cuts and to minimise the damage to the district."

He added: "Even one redundancy is regrettable but we have tried to lessen the impact as much as possible - it's a very fine balancing act.

"When we went to court to fight this, the Government told us that the only three things they were interested in were delivering the waste collection, environmental health and planning - the implication was that any other services are superfluous.

"We know that's bunkum and that residents rely on us for a whole variety of different services, and the proposals we have put forward mean we will be able to continue with many of these services."

The council will no longer fund Police Community Support Officers.

If the Government does not stump up the extra cash, some villages will lose their officers. The council will also cease funding projects to tackle racial harassment.

Another serious implication of the cuts, which is likely to anger residents, includes turning off lighting along footpaths in the district.

Rises in several charges levied by the council are also likely to prove unpopular. Charges for collection of bulky waste will jump from £20 to £30 and the charge for an extra black wheelie bin will rise from £20 to £40. Charges will also rise for taxi licensing and pest control.

One saving which few residents will see the effect of is the end of free tea and coffee for staff from vending machines at South Cambridgeshire Hall in Cambourne. This will save £2,480 this year and £16,660 next year.

As reported in the Cambridge Evening News