Coventry City Council announce dramatic potential cuts
By Jack Woolf
Coventry city council have announced today that stark savings will need to be made in order to balance their budget, and this would likely amount to tens of millions of pounds in cuts over the next few years.
This would have grave implications on programs like social care, which in addition to homelessness soak up 80% of the council’s funds.
The council expect to potentially save up to 2-3 million pounds in adult social care cuts and 4 million in child social care.
Another key feature would be the elimination of free parking in Memorial park, something that was so controversial it was removed from the previous budget after backlash. This would save up to £150,000.
We spoke to Councillor Richard Brown who explained exactly why the cuts are needed. ‘I think local government has been quite unfairly treated over the last few years,’ he said. A member of Labour, he accused the Conservatives of worsening the situation, ‘what we've seen is money leaving urban areas like Coventry and going to more rural areas,’ he said. ‘If Coventry was funded to the national average per person, we would get another £28 million a year…we'd be having a completely different conversation,’ he continued.
Councillor Richard Brown - Coventry City Council website
We asked members of the public what they thought outside Coventry town hall, the reception was not positive.
Hazel was in Coventry to visit her friend who works in social care. Her friend was not happy about the news. “She’s worried about cuts being made to the service as they’re struggling already,” she said. “There’s a lot of need, a lot of poverty,” she continued.
This is common through the country. Hazel said, “It’s a bad situation, the funding for local councils needs to be improved and hopefully with a new government it will be, but it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.”
Giorges is an international student who shared a certain amount of sympathy for the council’s decision. “It’s not the council’s fault, they’re underfunded, so they need to do something to get more funds,” he said.
Maddy is a student at Coventry university. She’s not happy about the proposed cuts either. “Everything’s really expensive at the moment, these key programs, especially access to social care and leisure activities like free parking at Memorial, they’re really essential to living life at the moment. Losing them will be detrimental to some,” she said.
Maddy also shared concerns over the wider situation. “Local councils all over the country are struggling, they’re what provides the bulk of support to residents, if you cut that funding you’re going to screw a lot of people over,” she said.
One might argue that the council does have no choice in the matter, and that if they want to avoid a bankruptcy situation like Birmingham City Council did last year, then they will have to face tough choices. Cllr Richard Brown clearly wants to avoid that situation. ‘They're selling assets like mad and they put the Council tax up 20%,’ he said.
It may be a cold hard financial reality, but that will prove little consolation to those who face the brunt of the cuts.
The issue is not set in stone. Councillor Brown said, ‘we won't actually get the final numbers until January. So we're in this ridiculous scenario where you're trying to plan a budget and you don't even know how much money you're going to get.’ ‘We have to prepare for the worst while still hoping for the best,’ he continued.
Full Press Release - https://www.coventry.gov.uk/news/article/5122/report-highlights-coventry-s-financial-budget-challenge-