Happy New Year - not

Residents are receiving through their doors the list of cuts we (Hounslow's Labour Councillors) are considering in order to make the £18m budget reduction imposed on us by withdrawal of Government grant. It's on-line "http://tinyurl.com/3x329mo" £18m is far more than anything Hounslow, and most other authorities, have ever had to find before.

Too Far - Too Fast
As the Council's leadership, we have been left with no choice but to cut services and jobs next year - Government grants make up c70% of Council income and the spending review and subsequent local government settlement forces Hounslow to make 25% reduction in spend over the next four years. Dressed up as part of deficit reduction strategy, these cuts in our Government grants are an ideological attack on public services, yet the difficult decisions as to how to deliver the cuts are being forced on local Councils to make. Grant reductions have been far worse for urban authorities - whilst Richmond borough, Surrey County, and Cameron's Whitney have got off very lightly, and some northern authorities, along with Hackney and Islington, fare far worse.

The proposals in the consultation represent the least worst possible, and try and protect services to our most vulnerable residents, the frail elderly, disabled people, and vulnerable families and youngsters. We are also trying to reduce the number of redundancies to Council staff.

We will continue to drive out inefficiencies and unnecessary costs. But Mr Pickles is in fantasy land to suggest that joint work and cutting out chief executives can bring the kind of savings we have to make. Even the 3-borough grouping of Hammersmith, Westminster and Kensington reckon their radical efficiency proposals around joint services will only find £15 savings between them in four years.
Hounslow is investing time and expertise into redesigning how things are done so residents get a better service, for less. But it takes time for that change to be implemented, and time is what the Government has not given us

So we cannot avoid making real cuts that will impact on local people and local services. We remain committed to a tax cut and will freeze it again next year if we are not able to cut it. We also remain resolute on our 5 pledges – crime and community safety, schools, new homes and jobs, cleaning up, and cutting Council Tax.

We'll also be working closely with our local health, education and police partners who are also facing funding cuts - to ensure that we don't make cuts in one service that end up costing other partners more.

Please do respond to the consultation to budgetconsultation@hounslow.gov.uk