The big issue: spending cuts are hurting – no matter where we live

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jan/01/observer-big-issue-local-government-spending-cuts

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In your editorial on local spending (18 December) you suggest that “those who live in Salford [will] have a radically different level of service provision compared to those who live in Surrey”.

While I understand the general reasoning behind this, I’m not sure that it will be true of this particular county. Residents are reeling from news of a whole range of cuts, including:

• The closure of the most heavily used fire station in the area.

• The ending of key bus services.

• Much reduced support for the elderly.

It is reliably estimated that to keep existing services going, the county would have raise its council tax by 18%. So the north-south divide is not total.Rev Andrew McLuskeyStanwell, StainesSurrey

Your leader presented a highly inaccurate view of their impact [local spending cuts] on Hampshire and of the public sector spending picture nationally.

It claimed that between 2009/10 and 2016/17, Hampshire has only had to cut spending by 5% (£47m). The government has cut Hampshire county council’s revenue support grant funding between these years by £159m (73.5%), together with a specific grant cut of a further £34m. Like many other south coast counties, we have a high percentage of elderly residents, so our adult social care pressures are particularly high. We were already a “low council tax, low grant” authority before the spending cuts began and, consequently, the impact of reductions on our overall position is relatively greater.

The leader also gave the impression that local government spending is higher in areas perceived as affluent. The reverse is the case. In 2017/18, the combined county and district council spending power per household in Basingstoke will be just £1,452. This contrasts with £1,804 in Salford, £1,812 in South Tyneside and £1,876 in Oldham. The more generous spending levels in metropolitan areas are because government funding formulas have long and unfairly favoured metropolitan over rural areas.

The methodology used in the figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies does not take into account that £44m of our 2016/17 budget is funded from reserves. This is thanks to prudent management of our reserves, which has meant we can weather the storm, but the use of reserves can never be a long-term solution, so the IFS methodology masks the scale of cuts we face.

The scale of the funding reductions we are facing means in no sense has Hampshire been let off the hook over severe reductions in grants. This is made even more challenging by the low level of funding we had to begin with. This analysis is inaccurate and misleading; worse, it does a disservice to the thousands of people in the south who are also heavily dependent on public services. They count too.Cllr Roy PerryLeader, Hampshire county councilWinchester

Well done on highlighting the devastating affect that the savage austerity cuts are having on local council budgets. These unnecessary and probably politically motivated swingeing cuts are affecting many much-valued community assets and properties.

In north-west Leicestershire, we have seen the closure of the excellent, innovative and educational Snibston Discovery Park and its associated mining museum, all sold off for a new housing development.

With Leicestershire county council facing another £68m of cuts over the next five years, we are working hard to save our century-old Thringstone House community centre. We are going to have to find an extra £20,000-plus a year to keep the centre going. We have already lost the funding for adult education classes, the youth leader and youth club and summer holiday play scheme.

We provide everything for our village and local area, from the nursery pre-school to the retired people’s fellowship, as well as rooms and facilities for 30 clubs, societies and organisations, including an excellent drama society.

These cuts are having an insidious, corrosive and crumbling effect on our communities, they are impoverishing society generally and storing up social problems for the future.Mike StathamThringstone House community centreThringstone, Leicestershire