Bristol City Council £19.5m budget cuts branded ‘morally wrong’

Bristol City Council’s proposed £19.5million budget cutbacks have been slated as “morally wrong” and “a kick in the teeth”.

Opposition councillors claim the measures are “unnecessarily harsh” while trade unions say poorer households will suffer a “triple whammy” of a 2.99 per cent council tax rise, 4.1 per cent council rent increase and a possible 20 to 30 per cent hike in tenants’ service charges.

Deputy mayor for finance Cllr Craig Cheney insists the 2022/23 budget protects frontline services, including libraries and children’s centres, and invests heavily in housing and building affordable homes.

The council’s cabinet approved the package containing 89 proposals to bridge the deficit – including higher parking and allotment charges, a rehab centre closure, new admission fees for two museums, fewer buildings and staff and making Meals on Wheels pay for itself – on Tuesday, January 18.

But Green opposition group leader Cllr Heather Mack told the meeting the savings were needlessly steep at a time when residents were suffering and the authority was keeping millions of pounds more than required in reserves.

She said that while the “real issue” was the lack of funding from the Conservative government, the authority’s Labour administration proposed £33million of savings over the next few years when only £19.5million had to be clawed back to balance the books, as legally required.

“These cuts are more than is needed.

At a time when we have £10million more in reserves than our policy states is necessary, these cuts seem unnecessarily harsh,” Cllr Mack said.

“It is not right to pretend that after years of cuts there is still more room for the council to scale back departmental budgets without affecting real services and impacting on real people.

“Each of these cuts reduces our resilience as a city and weakens our community.”

She said cutting social care for adults trying to live independently with mental or physical care needs would cost taxpayers much more in the long run, “while being cruel”.

Cllr Mack said: “This budget may be called financially prudent, but I don’t want to see money in the bank while people are suffering.”

She criticised the withdrawal of funding for Concord Lodge, a short-term residential unit with seven self-contained flats for vulnerable adults, which would be transferred to another provider along with 33 staff, saving £350,000.

The Lockleaze councillor said £5.5million of cuts to the council’s workforce budget, through voluntary redundancies and not filling vacancies, would “push the most bright and creative thinkers out” of City Hall, while unions also had harsh words for the plans.

GMB Avon & Wessex branch president Jeff Sutton told the meeting: “The GMB says no to cuts that cause significant job losses or withdrawal of services and that increase the workload on frontline staff, decreasing their numbers.

“It is morally wrong to reduce frontline staff and to expect them to pick up the work of their colleagues whose vacancies have been deleted.

“The GMB says no to more use of overpaid consultants – how many millions have we wasted there? – and says no to a budget that detrimentally affects the lower paid citizens of the city.

“These low-paid citizens face a triple whammy of a three per cent rise in council tax, four per rise in rent and probably 20 to 30 per cent rise in their service charges.

“Add the increase of energy charges and it’s a prohibitive amount.” Bristol Unison representative Steve Mills said the union would “vigorously oppose” plans to outsource Concord Lodge staff to save money.

He said proposals to slash the money for trade union facility time, where an employee takes time off normal duties to carry out union work, from £195,000 to £50,000 would “significantly curtail our ability to represent members and consult efficiently”.

“Even the day-to-day running of the branch will be compromised,” Mr Mills said.

“This is a serious attack on democratic standards within Bristol City Council as members will lose their voice and ability to engage.

“Throughout the pandemic our workload has grown, but we have continued to support members throughout. “This is a real kick in the teeth for council employees and their employment law rights.

“To be frank, it is unbelievable that a Labour-led administration is even considering this cut.”

Cllr Cheney said: “This budget protects libraries, children’s centres and social care programmes such as Better Lives.

“This is very much a housing budget with substantial funding for housing and investment in the council’s existing stock.”

He said the savings were focused on improving how the council was run by reducing costs and creating greater efficiency rather than cutting services to plug the deficit.

“Continuing to maintain our council tax reduction scheme ensures we continue to provide support to those who simply cannot afford to pay,” Cllr Cheney said.

“Sound financial decision-making today has allowed us to keep libraries and children’s centres open while they have closed in many other places facing the same pressures, and we will continue to work to create a better, inclusive and sustainable city for all.”

The proposals, including the main £431.1million revenue budget, go to full council on February 15 for a decision.