Cabinet under fire for savings ‘cuts’

Dudley Council’s leaders came under fire for cutting services after the authority’s ruling Conservatives hailed ‘exceptional’ financial forecasts.

A meeting of the council’s cabinet on November 6 was told the authority’s predicted overspend for the current financial year was down to £1.3m for a total revenue budget of £367m.

Councillors were also told millions of pounds savings were being found to ensure the council balanced its books and avoided effective bankruptcy with a declaration under Section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

Cllr Steve Clark, Dudley’s Conservative cabinet member for resources, said: “Savings deliveries performance is strong, 88 percent are either on track or being delivered.

“Of the £61.1m agreed, £55.7m has been delivered or is expected to be delivered. Where original savings can’t be achieved, mitigations have been put in place.

“There are still risks, these continue to be closely monitored and we are taking corrective action towards a balanced position by the end of the year.”

Labor’s Dudley group leader, Cllr Adam Aston declared the improving position was welcome but had a critical message for the council’s leadership.

Cllr Aston said: “It’s incumbent on all of us to remember that each saving is actually a cut.

“Sixty one million pounds of them is in fact cuts to council services, often to the most vulnerable members of our community and cuts to staff with obvious pressure on those who remain.”

His fellow Labour front-bencher, Cllr Keiran Casey was concerned about how the savings were being achieved.

He said: “I still think it is a very precarious situation given savings are very much dependent on not filling vacancies across a range of directorates – 35 unfilled vacancies in the environment directorate alone.

“That is considerable and clearly having an impact on services so it is not sustainable long-term.”

Cllr Clark said the savings were ‘exceptional’ while the council’s deputy leader, Cllr Paul Bradley, added: “Just a couple of years ago we were facing a 114, it is not a failure, this administration has done very well.”