News: The next round of spending cuts

A budget mayor and cuts in grants given to charities will save money this year but may prove costly over the long term

Leading figures in the community and voluntary sector in Brighton and Hove have spoken of their concerns about the next round of spending cuts. They accept that Brighton and Hove City Council has to try to save more than £20 million in the coming financial year. And the sum is likely to rise in the years immediately after.

They want to help. But they believe that cuts to grants may prove counter-productive. They fear that charities and voluntary groups will close. Those being helped will turn instead to the council or other taxpayer-funded organisations. And this will end up costing the council money that it was hoping to save.

The sums seem big at first glance. It is proposed to cut grant funding for community groups by £350,000. A further £200,000 is expected to be taken from services that provide community support for these groups.

Experts have suggested that the cuts could have not just a destabilising effect but force the closure of cheap and effective organisations.

The council struck a deal with them in better times to provide grants which are used for what is known as core funding. With a stable income, they have the capacity to apply for money from elsewhere such as the lottery, big trusts or the government. Locally, dozens of organisations have generated income running into many millions of pounds. All this is now at risk.

Much of the youth work taking place has its roots in real problems. It is almost 16 years since Jay Kensett was stabbed to death in Brighton and nearly ten years since any gangs were a sustained cause for concern. While many factors have helped, targeted youth work has played a key part.

Ben Glazebrook, who helps run the Brighton and Hove Youth Collective, said: “We work in some of the city’s most disadvantaged communities including Moulsecoomb, Tarner, Hangleton and Knoll and Whitehawk.

“Aspects of our work emerged out of very challenging circumstances for young people in the past. Over the years, the council and the community and voluntary sector have worked incredibly hard together to ensure that there is a strong youth offer here. As a result, there are places to go and things to do across the city.

“We are concerned about the bigger impact on communities given the potential impact of the cuts as a whole and the cumulative effect of cuts to services.” Mr Glazebrook is not alone. One local community worker said; “There’s an old saying that idle hands make mischief. When that happens then the council, the police and the NHS are likely to be the ones picking up the bill.”

Another aspect of the budget to raise eyebrows in some quarters is the proposal to take more than £80,000 out of the £120,000 budget spent supporting the mayor. Unlike Boris Johnson in London, the mayor of Brighton and Hove is not an executive or decision-making mayor. In the words of the author Walter Bagehot, describing the role of the modern monarch, his or her role is dignified.

The mayor is a ceremonial position and above party politics. He or she – this year it’s Councillor Brian Fitch – meets and greets visitors, opens events, gives prizes and raises money for charity. The draft council budget spoke about a “service redesign reducing the mayoralty to basic functions including removing staffing support”. It also suggested “no administrative support for organising events such as remembrance”.

Each mayor is different but the vast majority provide some of the best PR that the council can expect, and for a modest sum in a budget of more than £700 million.

There is no escaping the challenging nature of the task of balancing the council’s books. And whichever party emerges with the most seats after the local elections in May is likely to face even more of a financial headache. It is perhaps easy to criticise individual cuts and harder to identify alternatives.

But the work of the mayor and of a number of local charities are aspects of the looming budget that may repay a rethink.