Front line council service cut due to £1 bn black hole in council funding

Front line council services will be cut and thousands of workers are set to lose their jobs as recession-hit town halls struggle with a £1 billion black hole.

A Daily Telegraph investigation has established that local authorities in England and Wales are slashing budgets by up to 10 per cent, with social services, education and transport bearing the brunt of the cuts.

Councils also revealed that they were planning to claw back some of their losses by increasing charges for facilities such as car parking and cutting services such as lollipop ladies and meals on wheels.

Many authorities insist that the cuts are necessary to compensate for a lower than average government grant settlement, at a time when demand for services, such as care homes and advice centres, is rising as the pressures of the recession bite.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "Income is falling away very sharply at a time when more and more people are turning to councils for help."

Council workers vote for strike

The BBC reports today that Council workers have voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over pay.

The public sector workers union Unison has announced that its members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland voted by 55% to strike, after rejecting a below-inflation 2.45% pay offer which they argue is effectively a pay cut.

The union is demanding a 6% pay rise or 50p an hour extra, whichever is greater.

A strike would affect a wide range of public services that local communities rely on, including school dinner staff and classroom assistants, care home workers and a range of council services like bin collections and environmental health inspectors.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said his members were "fed up and angry they are expected to accept pay cut after pay cut while bread and butter prices go through the roof.

"Most of them are low-paid workers, who are hit hardest by food and fuel price hikes."

But Brian Baldwin, chairman of the local government employers' negotiators, said: "If the pay settlement was set any higher, then councils will be forced into making unpalatable choices between cutting front line services and laying off staff. Neither unions nor employers would want either of these options.

Of course, another option is for the government to stop wasting vast amounts of money - for example handing a 63% increase in our payments to the audit-failing EU for MEPs to rip off - so that it can give more to local councils to provide both quality essential services and afford fair pay for workers.

The government's preferred inflation measure, the Consumer Prices Index rose, to 3.3% in May, with the Bank of England warning it may reach 4%.

The wider Retail Prices Index measure of inflation - the one used for many pay negotiations - is already at 4.3%.

Councils turn backs on care for older people

In the same week as MPs voted in favour of gifting the audit-failing European Union a massive and unjustifiable increase in funding of £7bn, it has been revealed that nearly three-quarters of local authorities in England are rationing social services to exclude tens of thousands of vulnerable people from help with the basic tasks of daily living.

The Guardian reports today that official figures obtained by the charity Mencap reveal the worsening plight of people who cannot wash, dress, prepare a meal or go to the shops unaided - a growing problem this blog has been recording now for more than a year.

It said the problem affected older people and adults with learning disabilities in areas where cash-strapped councils have decided they can no longer afford to provide services to everyone in need.

The information, from the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), found 73% of local authorities were planning to refuse care to everyone whose needs were not considered to be "substantial".

The government's definition of substantial covers people who "cannot carry out the majority of their personal care or domestic routines" and do not have anyone available to provide voluntary help.

It excludes people with "moderate" needs who may not be able to carry out several daily routines such as getting up in the morning, bathing and doing the washing up.

The CSCI found four local authorities intending to ration services even more tightly to provide care only to people whose needs are "critical".

Under this definition, people would not get support unless their life was in danger or they were at risk of serious abuse or neglect.

The four were Northumberland, Surrey, West Berkshire and Wokingham councils. They are about to be joined by the London borough of Harrow, which yesterday defended plans to tighten its eligibility criteria at a judicial review in the high court.

Dame Jo Williams, chief executive of Mencap, said: "These figures show the true extent of the crisis in social care. It is unacceptable in the UK in the 21st century that local authorities are refusing support to very vulnerable people with a learning disability who have no one else to turn to.

"Last month the government gave an increase of less than 1% for social services. Given rises in demand, we will just see more and more cash-strapped councils cutting back."

The tightening up of council funding means the number of households across England receiving local authority care fell from 528,500 in 1991 to 345,000 this year, despite growing numbers of older people.

The CSCI data showed rationing has become much tighter over the past two years. In 2005-06, 54% of authorities restricted services to people whose needs were deemed "substantial".

This increased to 62% in 2006-07 and - according to councils' official plans - would reach 73% by the end of March.

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: "Chronic under-funding of home care services means people are being deprived of the help they need until they reach crisis point ... We need a better system for paying for care to end the postcode lottery and the unfair way people on low and modest incomes are charged."

The Local Government Association said: "Councils want to provide the services vulnerable people need but are increasingly unable to do so because central government funding has not kept pace with the demands of an ageing population."

David Rogers, chairman of the association's community wellbeing board, added: "Ministers need to turn with urgency to the long-term overhaul of the future funding of adult care services ... It is unjust that people have to wait until their life is threatened, or suffer from a serious mental and physical illness, before they receive care.

"If society is to meet people's needs and aspirations, the social care system needs root and branch reform, giving individuals choice, independence, dignity and control over their lives."

Harrow council last night defended its decision to save £2m by withholding services from people in substantial need. Chris Mote, the leader, said it received less from the government than other London boroughs and had to concentrate support on the most vulnerable.

"We were forced to take action ... to balance the budget" he said.

MPs have a moral obligation to be far more responsible with scarce public money than gifting it to EU, which has a terrible reputation for waste, fraud and mismanagement.

They must choose to stand up for properly-funded care for vulnerable people and vote against the European Communities (Finance) Bill at its final reading in a few weeks time.

Norfolk: Warning over the cost of care

Old people face having to pay more for their care and some will miss out completely as Norfolk social services prepares to make millions of pounds of cuts - reports the Eastern Daily Press.

The department is trying to make £13m of savings from the adult social services budget next year alone, a figure which rises to £37m over the next three years.

It is part of what County Hall chiefs described as a “difficult” picture for all the council's services. Although the county council will not hear about its government funding settlement until next month, it is expecting to receive an extra £16m from Whitehall - but faces paying an extra £38.7m in inflation costs and to meet rising demand for services, leaving it to make £22.7m of savings next year.

Paul Brittain, the council's head of finance, said: “There are savings right across the board in adult services, children's services, planning and transport and so on. It is a very difficult financial situation.”

Harold Bodmer, director of adult social services, said: “It is a tough situation. We have to set this on the context of a very difficult budget.”

The most severe cutbacks proposed are reducing the number of people who receive care by 1,084 over the next three years, saving £3m next year and more than £19m in all.

Hilary Macdonald, chief executive of Age Concern Norfolk, said that some people might choose to do without services if they were faced with having to pay more.

She said: “Inevitably the burden is going to fall on family and other carers.

“We are very concerned that with the need for cuts - and this is across the board, in health services as well as social services - preventative services will fall off the agenda. It is vitally important that older people receive the support they need”.

Chris Mowle, cabinet member for adult social services, said: “Quite clearly the government is underfunding social care by a massive amount, therefore if county councillors hold to their pledge and keep council tax down, services for vulnerable adults are at extreme risk.”

Norfolk: Cash cuts for children’s services

Key services for children and young people in Norfolk could be under threat due to painful cuts being considered in order to fill a predicted £11m black hole in funding - reports the Eastern Daily Press.

Dozens of jobs face the axe over the next three years as financial experts try to make ends meet. And Norfolk's 450 schools face having to meet the bills for numerous services that have until now been provided free.

The expected cash crisis comes at a troubled time for the county, as growing numbers of schools are being judged "not good enough" by Ofsted inspectors, the numbers of children in care continue to spiral and GCSE achievement is falling further behind the national average.

Lisa Christensen, director of children's services, pledged that these three key areas would not be touched by any cuts. But they are putting pressure on the children's services department, and senior officers are being urged to come up with ways to save money through "efficiency savings".

The flurry of activity has come amid predictions that the government's 2008/9 settlement would only amount to a 2.3% increase in funds for Norfolk. A high-profile delegation has been to London from Norfolk to put pressure on the government in a bid to secure more money before the final amount is announced.

But at the moment all heads of department are working on the basis of the 2.3% rise, which barely covers the cost of inflation in key areas like transport and the price of providing care.

Rosalie Monbiot, cabinet member for children's services, admitted she was "frustrated" at the prospect of another tight financial settlement.

She said: "We deliver some marvellous services in Norfolk. If the worst comes to the worst we will be reduced to only delivering statutory services and that will not be of benefit to the children of the county. We don't have many areas where we can make the savings."

The possible cuts are outlined in a report to Wednesday's review panel.

It includes a proposal to save more than £2m in staffing costs over three years - the equivalent of at least 60 people losing their jobs or not being replaced. Other suggestions include saving £1m on special educational needs transport by more strictly enforcing the rules.

Northampton: Funds loss threat to youth group

One of the largest youth support groups in Northamptonshire is facing closure unless it raises £75,000 to fund its activities by the end of the month - reports the BBC.

The Lowdown, based in Northampton, offers information, counselling and support to young people.

The group has been trying to raise enough money to stay open but still faces a budget shortfall.

The charity said it has been struggling financially since funding cuts to youth services in the county last year.

Suffolk: Massive council cuts proposed

A multi-million-pound round of cuts in services, from buses and road maintenance to care for older people and transport for sixth-formers, are in store for Suffolk residents - reports the Eastern Daily Press.

Older people also face paying more for council-run care homes, while support for extra-curricular dance, drama and sport could also be axed.

The proposed cuts were unveiled yesterday by Suffolk County Council at the start of its budget process. The plans will be discussed at scrutiny meetings over the next month before the budget is set in February.

Under fire from opposition councillors yesterday, council leader Jeremy Pembroke stressed the proposals were subject to change, and the council did not yet know what grant it would get from the government.

However, the council is expecting to have to save £16m, though it says it is also spending £10m on extra services.

Fifty-seven jobs will be lost, on top of the nine to 31 already planned for next year.

Mr Pembroke said the most unpopular decision was likely to be £950,000 of cuts to bus subsidies, which would spell the end to 15 bus services providing 150,000 passenger trips.

Likely to be equally unpopular is a proposal for the end of free transport for 16 to 18-year-olds to sixth form or college from next September.

Old people with savings may also be charged more if they move into one of the 15 council-run care homes.

Currently, the cost is capped at the amount the council pays for private sector homes, even though the true cost of a council-run home is higher.

Those entering council-run homes who are deemed able to afford the fees face having to pay upwards of £200 a week extra, but those already in them will not be affected.

Other proposals include: Cutting the roads maintenance budget by 40pc (£1.6m), meaning unclassified roads will be left to develop potholes rather than get preventative work. Axing support services for school dance, drama, and extra-curricular sport unless schools pay for them, saving £80,000 a year for three years.

Shropshire: Council faces services overspend

Shropshire County Council is facing serious financial pressure in funding adult social care, reports the BBC.

It is forecasting an overspend of £638,000 in its budget for looking after people with learning difficulties in the current financial year.

Director of resources, Laura Rowley, said a review was under way and some vacancies were not being filled to help reduce costs.

She said as carers got older they needed more help to cope.

Financial pressure is set to increase further to meet demands for improving care for autistic people and those suffering Asperger's Syndrome, she said.

Barry Brown, whose son Stephen has Asperger's, said the current situation was unacceptable.

"When we got the diagnosis he had got Asperger's Syndrome that was the good news, because previous to that we had nowhere to turn," said Mr Brown.

"Then they said there's no services for Asperger's either in Telford or Shropshire and that's still the situation."

Worcestershire: Council chiefs’ funding fears

Worcestershire County Council chiefs have echoed the warnings of the Local Government Association (LGA) in the wake of what has been called the worst financial settlement for 10 years - reports the Redditch Advertiser.

The Government's Comprehensive Spending Review was recently announced, which details public sector funding and in particular how much money local councils will receive for running day-to-day services.

The LGA has warned the settlement would mean above-inflation increases in council tax and potential funding black holes for services for older people.

The county council has already been working to shave £25 million off its revenue budget before 2010. And with the county having an above average older population, the effects could be felt even more acutely.

Councillor George Lord, county council leader, said: "This latest announcement is not good news for counties like Worcestershire. We're already amongst the poorest funded in the country and as the amount that the Government generally provides for local authorities continues to fall, we'll be hardest hit once again."

Councillor Adrian Hardman, cabinet member for finance, added: "We've been able to be amongst the top performing councils in the country in terms of efficiency and value for money in recent years and this has been the main reason why we've been able to balance the budget.

"It does get increasingly difficult however and we face some tough decisions for next year and beyond because there's simply insufficient money available to continue to provide services at their current and improved levels and to meet all the additional demands being placed upon us."

Full details of the implications of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review are due to be unveiled in early December when the precise impact on the budget for the county can be calculated.

What has Redditch MP Jacqui Smith have to say about this, while she intends to vote £7bn of evidently scarce government money away to the audit-failing EU?

The £25 million the council needs to maintain services is not even two days worth of the money Ms Smith plans to gift the EU.

Approving the waste of such vast sums on an organisation with a terrible record for waste, corruption and mismanagement will mean she must take personal responsibility when funding shortfalls such as these inevitably occur.

Basildon: Basildon Council cash crisis

Basildon Council is facing a serious cash crisis next year which could lead to service cuts - reports the Basildon Recorder. Council tax may also rise by five per cent

The financial difficulties have come about because the council must find up to £500,000 to subsidise pensioners' free bus travel next year.

Basildon Council is the only authority in Essex yet to pay £100,000 from last year.

Terri Sargent, cabinet councillor responsible for community services, said consultants were trying to work out ways to meet rising costs as more elderly people take up passes.

Mrs Sargent said: "Our bill for last year is late. We expect it to be even higher this year.

"We have no idea what it will be when the scheme goes national, but uptake is always increasing.

"A report will go to cabinet next month." Council leader Malcolm Buckley said: "A review of services has identified a number of savings, but this does not take into account bus pass cost increases.

"The problem is we have to set our budget before knowing the actual cost of passes when they go nationwide."

Meanwhile, Phil Turner, the council's cabinet member for resources, warned there would be little scope for investment. He said: "Basildon's grant from the Government is already the lowest possible and well below the national average.

"The amount we are likely to get will not cover all the costs of inflation, new legislation and the extra responsibilities."

Mr Turner added: "The burden of making up the balance will fall upon the council tax payer."

Wimbledon: £36m council cuts spark job loss fears

More than 50 jobs are set to be axed and services cut back as a council struggles to balance its books - reports the South London Press.

Bean counters at Merton civic centre have worked out that the authority needs to save
£14.4million in the next financial year (2008/09), £13.4million in 2009/10, plus £8.9million in 2010/11.

The authority, like many other councils, will not be receiving enough money from the Government to run all of the services it currently provides and will be hit hard by increases in expenses including landfill tax charges.

A report setting out a list of money-saving proposals, including more than 50 job cuts, was being presented to Monday's cabinet meeting. The budget will be finalised in March.

Council leader David Williams, pictured inset, said: "We will be discussing the staffing proposals with the unions.

"If we don't get the money from the Government that we need, we have three options: to raise council tax, increase fees and charges and cut services.

"There is a four-year pledge that we will keep council tax at the same level in real terms using the retail price index - we will know the exact amount in December."

A full report about the future of day services for elderly and disabled people, including the
All Saints Centre in Wimbledon, is also due to be presented to the cabinet at a meeting in December.

The cost-cutting measures will begin at the end of a three-year programme to save £10million that began in 2005/6.

Oldham: Council tax fears spark cutbacks

A local authority has drawn up plans to cut dozens of jobs and slash services to avoid a council tax hike of more than 20% - reports the Manchester Evening News.

Council chiefs in Oldham have revealed they would face a staggering black hole of £13.6m in their accounts for 2008/9 - even if they repeated last year's tax rise of 4.9%.

To close the gap they would need to increase council tax by around 21%.

Instead they have drafted a report listing cost-cutting measures that would total £17.15m. They include the loss of 32 jobs and the closure of five lifelong learning centres.

Other proposed savings include reducing agency costs, more efficient purchases of goods and services, and a review of the council's property holdings.

These options will now go out to consultation before final decisions are taken in February.

Finance chiefs have highlighted inflation and a loss of external funding as major reasons behind the shortfall.

They added that the decision to invest in the Building Schools for the Future programme, where a £1m investment was required to secure more than £200m of external funding, provided further pressure.

David Jones, the Labour group and council leader, said: "Our finance team forecast the pressures we would face next year at a very early stage, giving us plenty of time to develop sensible solutions.

"Oldham is way ahead of many other local authorities in developing options early."

But Coun Howard Sykes, Lib Dem opposition leader, criticised the council and said the report was `unclear'.

He said: "It is very difficult to believe that they can carve this much out of the budget without it affecting services. I think they are being forced to look under the rug. I don't know exactly what they mean in the report but we will be tracking it closely and find out.

"Mike Williamson, of the GMB Union, agreed. He accused the council of using `gobbledygook' and said there would be `an obvious impact on services and jobs'.

Bolton: Town budget may face £5.2m cuts

Bolton town hall chiefs could be forced to slash £5.2 million from their budget next year to achieve their target council tax increase of around 3.8% - reports The Bolton News.

The figures were revealed as the Government announced councils would get an effective one per cent increase in funding, allowing them to keep council tax increases within five per cent.

The council's early budget estimates for 2008/09 have raised fears of further job losses and service cuts. It made £10.8 million worth of cuts this year.

That resulted in 202 job cuts, achieved through redeployment, early retirement and not filling vacancies.

Departmental bosses have now been given initial targets for savings next year.

The adult services, culture and community budget, slashed by £4.6 million this year, must cut another £1.3 million.

Children's services must save £790,000, although schools funding is protected.

Other savings include £793,000 from central departments, including corporate resources and legal services, £556,000 from the environment budget, and £162,000 from development and regeneration.

A 3.8% increase in council tax would mean the Bolton Council levy for an average band D home rising £48 to £1,301 per year.

Added to that are police and fire authority precepts, which this year amounted to an extra £164, while in Horwich, Blackrod and Westhoughton there is also a small precept to fund town councils.

Florence Hill, of Bolton's 5,800-member UNISON branch, said: "We are concerned for services and jobs.

"I do not know how the council can keep providing good-quality public services while cutting its budget year on year."

Steve Arnfield, the council's director of corporate resources, emphasised the initial budget estimates could change.

He said: "It's too early to talk about job cuts because we will not know until the end of November what savings options the different departments will come up with."

Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris added: "We are constantly looking at how we can make our services more cost-effective and make improvements for service users and council tax payers."

The forecasts that had been presented to the council's executive were based on an estimated 1.5% increase in the Government grant and business rates to a combined £110 million.

However, Mr Darling's announcement yesterday means the council will get around £500,000 less.

Derby: Alarm as care home faces closure

Fears have been raised that Derbyshire care homes could come under pressure after an authority admitted it was looking at plans to shut one - reports the BBC.

Derby City Council has announced a consultation period over the future of Bramble Brook in Mickleover.

The council said residential care had become less popular in recent years and it had 80 vacancies across the city.

Age Concern said greater emphasis on home care meant many care homes were facing a financial squeeze.

There are about 40 residents and 32 staff at Bramble Brook, which has been selected as it provides no specialist care.

The families of those at Bramble Brook said the idea of being moved away from friends and familiar surroundings was causing distress.

Katy Pugh, chief executive of Age Concern in Derby, said: "I think finances are very tight and many of the new strategies and agendas mean money will have to be redistributed, so it is possible there will be more closures."

She added: "Experience has told us that older people facing this sort of situation suffer greatly.

"They become very anxious and it is more likely their health will suffer and certainly these changes are much harder to cope with at that time of life."

Bolton: Union not looking at action over cuts

UNISON members will not take industrial action over Bolton Council's planned £10.6 million in cuts - reports The Bolton News.

Natalie Mills, spokesman for Unison, said: "We are not looking at industrial action at this stage because many of the members are worried about their jobs.

Up to 400 employees have had to take a pay cut because of changes to their working terms and conditions.

Among the cuts, around £4.6 million is being slashed from the adult services and culture and community cohesion budgets, accounting for 130 lost posts and the closure of the Manor Court care home in Harwood will save £820,000 with the loss of 50 jobs.

Brighton: £9m spending cuts planned

Town hall bosses are looking at £9 million of cuts to services next year to keep council tax below the Government cap of 5% - reports The Argus.

Although the budget has yet to be released, The Argus understands there is a funding gap between what Brighton and Hove City Council needs to spend to maintain services and its Government grant.

It is about 5% of the total budget of £200 million.

In November, it emerged the council would have to find £20 million in savings in the next three years to keep council tax below 4.9%.

This is on top of £3 million of cuts to street cleaning and social services to balance the overspend so far this financial year.

It now appears the council needs to find £9 million in cuts to balance the books next year.

More than 111 posts are expected to be axed, including 24 positions in social services and others from management and administrative roles.

A maximum of 46 redundancies were planned but Unison said the number was falling due to a number of departures and people being moved to different departments.

Adult social services will see savings of £1.7 million, including cuts to agency staff. Schemes such as the Palmeira Project, which looked after disabled children, will now be moved to an alternative service at The Drove in Portslade.

Green councillor Simon Williams said: "We are now seeing the effects of the Government's poor grant settlement to Brighton and Hove City Council biting into services for some of the most vulnerable people in the community.

"While the council has tried to minimise the impact on service-users, it's an inescapable fact that, with job cuts totalling two per cent of the wage budget, services for some of the most vulnerable in our community will suffer."

Leader of the council Simon Burgess said "We are always having to run to keep still, that is why council tax goes up.

"Where we make savings other things start costing more.

"The costs of looking after the elderly, young people and the environment, for instance, is always increasing and we have to carry on caring for people even while Government isn't meeting the increasing costs."

Councillor Paul Elgood said: "We are now concerned cuts are going to be made to frontline services and we are going to lose some of our best staff."

Trust warns it may axe leisure services

A trust formed last year by Edmundsbury Borough Council to run leisure services in west Suffolk has warned it might axe services unless the council contributes extra funds – reports the East Anglian Daily Times.

Council members have been warned that the trust, which runs leisure centres in Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill, needs an extra £79,400 to cover unforeseen cost hikes.

Without a cash injection, proposed cuts include closing the football school at Haverhill Leisure Centre, ending the agreement with Haverhill Lawn Tennis Club for use of courts, closing the creche facilities at both Haverhill Leisure Centre and Bury Leisure Centre.

The other option would be hiking prices at the centres by 6%, rather than the 3% planned.
The trust’s acting chief executive Alison Bowyer said the main cause of the problems was a 33% hike in energy costs, which was unforeseen by the trust.

West Suffolk MP Richard Spring said: "Obviously I would be very concerned if sport and leisure services were impaired in any way. It is a key element of giving people things to do that are healthy and productive."

Article contributed by: Foster, (IP19 1QB)

Grant shortfall leads to cutbacks of £22m

The government was last night accused of short-changing Suffolk after it received an annual grant which will spark £22 million of county council cutbacks – reports the East Anglian Daily Times.

Although the figure was roughly what the council had expected, the grant is not high enough to offer a last-minute reprieve to the services earmarked for cutbacks earlier in the year.

Jane Storey, portfolio holder for resources, finance and performance, said the authority would be "deluding" itself if it thought much bigger grant increases would be given the next year, meaning more savings would have to be made in the future.

She said: "We have plans to cover most of the shortfall by changes to the way we deliver services. However there will be an impact on services in some areas, as we will have to choose between what we want to do and what we can afford."

Reg Hartles, chairman of Protest Against Council Tax Suffolk, said he blamed the need for the controversial milti-million pound savings 90% on the government.

He said: "This is making life more and more difficult for the council - £22 million is a hell of a lot of money and a lot of worthy causes will suffer for this."

- Article contributed by: IP19 0QB

Brighton: City's £20m cuts shock

Town hall chiefs are being forced to consider more than £20 million of cuts to services to avoid council tax rises of up to 30 per cent over the next four years - reports The Argus.

Brighton and Hove City Council is already considering slashing the budgets for street cleaning and social services after revealing it needed to claw back £3 million of debt accrued so far this financial year.

But the authority is predicting a freeze in Government funding - meaning huge pressures on every department's budget.

The news led campaigners last night to call for a root-and-branch review of local government funding.

To avoid slashing services, council tax would have to increase by 4.9% in April next year, 8%the year after, then 7% in 2009/10 and 6% in 2010/11.

This would result in the average Band D household paying an extra £400 a year by April 2010, or £1,661 in total.

But ministers limit council tax increases to 5% and a council spokesman said it did not plan to go beyond the cap - meaning savings of more than £20 million will be needed.

Before the end of the financial year, the council is set to close a home for five children with autism, stop the night-time street cleaning service and cut just under £1 million from adult social services, including scores of council employees not being replaced when they leave.

Council leader Simon Burgess also warned of job losses.

Green councillor Keith Taylor said he would be pushing for charities and not-for-profit organisations to take on more of the council's work.

He said: "We cannot carry on delivering the same for less. It is impossible to carry on making cuts."

Colchester: Evicted special needs nursery faces closure

Owners of a ‘lifeline’ special needs nursery say they have no choice but to close when council chiefs evict them, according to the Colchester Evening Gazette.

The Stepping Stones Nursery cares for more than 80 children each week, coming from as far afield as Norfolk, Suffolk and the London boroughs. It provides vital respite care for families and an important social opportunity for otherwise excluded youngsters.

The nursery, set up 16 years ago, has been asked to relocate by the council from its home at the Wilson Marriage Centre in Colchester. The transfer of adult education classes to the centre following the closure of Grey Friars College will mean there’s no longer room for the nursery.

As the nursery has nowhere to relocate to, it will be unable to continue providing care.

A special £100,000 sensory garden and room funded by community groups at the centre, will be wasted if the nursery is forced to leave.

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester