News from Harrow Labour

Harrow residents face savage cuts for Christmas

Behind the scenes the Conservative controlled administration in Harrow is preparing a Christmas present of savage cuts in the services provided to Harrow residents.

Already £49 million has been cut from controllable expenditure, leaving only £181 million. It is proposed to cut a further £10 million from this budget, meaning that every department is will have to cut their controllable budgets by a further 5.5% – with £3.3 million from Adults and Housing, £2.4 million from Community and Environment and £2.1 million from Children’s Services.

The actual proposed cuts will be presented to the Cabinet in December but to go by past practice it will be very difficult to find out exactly what is proposed until the impact assessments are released usually in late January.

It is believed that several millions of pounds of cuts have still to be found. Furthermore there are proposals for a further 30% cuts in the next few years.

Cllr Bill Stephenson, Leader of the Labour Group, said:

“These cuts will seriously affect front line services. Indeed some services may have to cease altogether. Harrow residents have the right to know up front precisely what is being proposed in an open and transparent way so that they can have their say before any decisions are taken. I am calling on the current Administration to publish precisely what they are proposing and the expected impacts in time for the December Cabinet. It may not be a very nice Christmas present but we all have the right to know what is going on in.”

Other news from Harrow Labour

• Harrow Labour and Lib Dems join forces to slam Tory scrutiny failure - 26 February 2010
• MPs, anti-poverty groups, and churches unite against vulture funds - 15 February 2010
• Poll shows Harrow residents still very unhappy with Council - 12 February 2010