Council leaders to be questioned over £45m cuts (From Worcester News)

Council leaders to be questioned over £45m cuts

11:40am Wednesday 14th October 2009

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THE leaders of Worcestershire County Council are to be hauled before a public meeting to answer “rigorous” questions about how they intend to make £45 million of cuts.

Chief executive Trish Haines and council leader George Lord will be challenged on which services will face cuts by members of the council’s overview and scrutiny board, the committee which examines council decisions.

The plan to make substantial cuts over the next four years was reported in your Worcester News on Monday.

Savings may come from cutting services, job losses or greater sharing of services with other districts and the city council – with only schools currently guaranteed to be safe from the axe.

Following an informal meeting of the board yesterday, its chairman Coun Tom Wells said: “We have decided we will require the chief executive and leader to attend our next meeting.

“It will be in public and we will begin the process of scrutinising the emerging proposals. We will pursue quite rigorously various lines of enquiry.”

Coun Wells said councillors were looking for clarity and would ask for more details on which services would be cut and whether there would be any ‘no-go’ areas.

One suggestion has been that the council would outsource work to private companies and Coun Wells said the board would want to understand how that might work.

He urged the people of Worcester to attend and make their feelings known.

He said: “This will be an opportunity for the public to come and hear first hand the emerging thoughts of how they will basically reduce the council budget.

“I’m hoping the public will attend and there will be a chance for them to participate at the beginning of the meeting. This affects everyone of this city one way or another.”

The meeting will take place at County Hall, Worcester, at 10am on Wednesday, November 4.

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