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Poor areas bear brunt of £449m national cuts
Reporter: Lobby correspondent
Date online: 11 June 2010
Oldham must repay £2.83m
Almost £3 million is being slashed from funding across Oldham as part of Government cuts to help reduce the nation’s debt.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has ordered Oldham Council to hand back £2.83 million from this year’s budget, though that is expected to increase further in the coming weeks as less than half the amount that must be saved from local government has been identified so far.
Council chiefs had been allocated £343.645 million for 2010-11 which is now being reduced by 0.8 per cent to £340.815 million.
More than £1.83 million of the money being axed was ring-fenced for specific education projects, which can include teaching standards, improving attendance and tackling teenage pregnancies. Other cuts include more than £170,000 from tackling extremism and improving cohesion, and a further £179,000 from the administration of a programme which helps people to live independently.
In addition, £625,000 of cuts are coming from the working neighbourhood fund, which allows councils and communities to help get people back into work.
Whitehall officials insist this does not mean those schemes will automatically be scrapped but the council will instead have to decide what its priorities are.
Not all councils are facing cuts as the £29 billion general grant to councils across the country — the main source of funding that local government receives every year — is not being reduced.
Ministers say this will ensure that key frontline services can be protected and council tax-rises prevented.
Instead all the cuts are from the area-based grants which provides extra money for more deprived areas.
The £2.83 million reduction to Oldham is part of a £449.9 million package of cuts to councils announced yesterday by the Department for Local Government and Communities.
It is part of the wider £1.16 billion savings the department will make.
Capital grants will account for the rest of the savings but no specific details have yet been released.
Mr Pickles said reductions had to be made as the nation’s deficit is running at £156 billion.
He said: “The detailed spending decisions outlined show a clear determination to make the necessary savings while minimising the impact on essential frontline services, like rubbish collections and protecting spending on schools and Sure Start.
“We have focused attention on reducing the centre and it is here that the reductions are the hardest.
“Steps have been taken to limit the impact on local authorities and make savings proportionally.
“Councils have been given the flexibility they need to determine where they make savings.
“We are clear that no extra burden must fall on local taxpayers.
“We are committed to freezing council tax in England for at least one year, and seek to freeze it for a further year, in partnership with local authorities.”
Nick Brown, chair of Oldham Partnership said: “This announcement comes as no surprise.
“An open and wide-ranging review of area-based grants carried out by Oldham Partnership has been ongoing for some months now.
“The Partnership is committed to ensuring that budget cuts are well managed and that vital services continue to receive the funding they require.
“Looking to the future more work will be done to continue to restructure services in order to ensure that we deliver the best value for money possible.”
Comments
Well, what did anyone expect? It's the same old 'Kick 'em whilst they're down' Tories (and their new poodles).
Is 0.8% a really big saving to make? Is Oldham Council run so prudently and cost effectively that there is absolutely no fat to trim anywhere and that all current service provision is absolutely vital? The answer to both is a resounding NO!!!!!
How much does that Audi cost again? How much are those away day jollies Howard likes so much?
Every little helps.
So thanks to Labours bad management. Oldham is to loose much needed funds, it’s almost like the black hole party don’t understand budgets and spending. It was the same locally as well. Oldham was left in a mess for others to sort typical labour
Owdhamfan it is Labour that "put us down" like they always do. They spent billions we don't have and achieved nothing. they have been the worst government with have ever had the misfortune to witness imho.
I thought American bankers playing silly beggers with mortgages screwed the world economy. Can't believe it was Labour. Have we said sorry to the other countries around the world who are in the same mess?
Tories are cutting more than Labour would have done as they won't hit their business buddies with the NI increase.
Perhaps the removal of all these Quango’s like oldham partnership etc and a serious reduction the exec posts would help. But we know that won’t happen to many expenses to be had
Labour and money do not mix, they are like a 5 year old in a sweetshop and are suprised when the money has gone.
Worst of all this is just the start of clearing up labour's mess and all are going to have to pay big time for a long time. Do not forget labour left a £150+ billion overspend to be recovered before we start paying the debt back. This is starters.
This has nothing to do with Tories wanting to make people suffer but has everything to do with labour's profligacy which has ended up with the country in mountains of debt and no assets.
Well no suprise, it would have been wasted again by the oldham council chiefs.
All parties went to the electorate saying cutbacks would be necessary. It's about the value judgement of those making the cuts. These cuts will disproportionately hit a borough with more needs than it has resources. If not all councils are facing cut (seventh paragraph above), why us?
I tend to feel that all the blame on Labour (rightly or wrongly) just covers up some of the cuts that the Tories/Lib Dems would have made anyway. If anyone with a good memory thinks back to what the Tories did to the country last time they were in they would realise who really does hurt the workers. The Tories/Lib Dems are not the saviours many would seem to believe. Wait and see!
@Deanno. Apart from heal the 'Sick Man of Europe' what did the Tories do wrong? Base rate income tax feel from 33% to 25%. Millions got the chance to own their own homes, unions that were crippling the country were sorted out. We became an economic powerhouse.
After NuLabour, what are we? Flat broke, worse off than after WW2,failing schools, crime out of control, hundreds of thousands of illegals, gap between rich and poor has widened hugely, socila mobility severely restricted and so on.
Con, Lib Lab - they all got voted in some time or other.... by the same people moaning here.
Do not like it - Put your MP/Councillor to task. Make life uncomfortable for them. "You want our vote this is what we want/need"..... get them to deliver - if they don't SACK them with the VOTE.
Have Your Say
Why not give Council Tax payers the opportunity to suggest where the cuts should fall?
By AC @ 11/06/2010 12:19:02