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.

Redditch: Fears over post office closures

Post office managers in Redditch are fearing for their future after the Government announced massive cuts throughout the UK - reports the Redditch Advertiser.

About 2,500 post offices are expected to go by the end of 2008 as part of plans to slim down the network.

Shops in Greenlands and Astwood Bank are among those that would be forced to close if the post office businesses were taken away.

Sub postmaster Richard Pinder, from Greenlands convenience store and post office, has worked at the shop for 40 years.

"My business is fine but if I lost the post office side it would no longer be viable," he said.

He blamed Government departments which have withdrawn many of the services, such as the television licensing and utility payments facility.

Mr Pinder added: "We have even had to accept a payment cut in our fees from 11p per transaction to 7p."

Julian Wilson, from Astwood Bank Post Office, said: "My shop would have to close. It runs at a loss on its own because I cannot buy goods any lower than you can get at the supermarket. But if I'm forced to shut it will be a loss to my customers, especially the elderly."

Redditch MP Jacqui Smith said: "My top priority is to maintain a national network of post offices so I'm pleased the Government is already committed to providing up to £1.7 billion to 2011 to support the network. Without that 10,000 offices would close."

She added that following an announcement in June naming the specific post offices to go, she will be doing her bit as a local MP to ensure the consultation period which follows is thorough and well informed.

It's not surprising that the best Jacqui Smith can offer is to ensure that local people will be 'well informed' when local post office closures are announced.

The £1.7bn subsidy for post offices she trumpets is a drop in the ocean compared to the £7bn extra Ms Smith intends to approve paying the EU between now and 2013, when she votes on the European Communities (Finance) Bill.

This huge award is particulary unjustified given EU auditors have for thirteen years now been unable to explain how the "majority" of the EU's budget is being spent.

If Ms Smith was really interested in standing up for local services, she wouldn't shrug off post office closures caused by insufficient subsidies, while quietly signing away billions of pounds extra to an organisation like the EU with a terrible record for waste, corruption and mismanagement.

Redditch: Church petitions against Alex cuts

Parishioners at a Redditch church have added their voices to the campaign against planned cuts at the Alexandra Hospital - reports the Redditch Advertiser.

St John's CE Church in Greenlands sent a 46 signature petition to the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the county's hospitals.

The petition stated the undersigned were opposed to the proposed closure of maternity services, 24-hour inpatient paediatric services and emergency gynaelogical services and were against the withdrawal of the majority of the chaplaincy from trust hospitals.

It said proposals would be detrimental to the welfare of woman and children, as well as the family life of those needing to use the services.

"The impact of these proposals will be most keenly felt by the socially deprived," it added.

Gary Noyes, lay pastor at the church, who has been in the post for three months, said: "As a newcomer I think the Alex is a fantastic hospital.

"From a purely professional point of view, ministering to the Woodrow and Greenlands, I would hate to see any cutbacks."

The St John's petition was part of a town wide petition sent to all churches in Redditch.
It was received and noted by the trust at a board meeting earlier this month.

In December, Friends organisations at hospitals in Redditch, Worcester and Kidderminster stepped in to fund chaplaincy posts at Worcester and Redditch after the trust proposed cutting the service to just one chaplain to serve the entire county.

Three months' public consultation on proposed cuts at the Alex is expected to start in June.