News: Jason Kitcat on council services & budget cuts

Councils across the country are struggling as the government inflicts huge cuts on local services. Though councillors of all political parties have spoken out about the impact year after year of cuts is having on local services, the political party conferences have given us further confirmation that all three major parties are committed to austerity. Whether there is a Conservative or Labour led government in 2015, they will continue starving local public services of vital funding until at least 2020.

We, as a council, provide over 800 services across the city including libraries, children’s centres, public health, parks and public safety services. Furthermore our educational provision, services for vulnerable adults and children, and housing services or support make up three quarters of our annual spending.

This and more information about council spending is available as part of the consultation we are launching to get views from everyone in the city on how they think we should shape our approach for the coming financial year as we balance reducing budgets and increasing demands for services.

We are launching an online tool for everyone to use to explore the budget and tell us what they want to see. We’ve written directly to a random selection of residents to invite them to participate too, and will continue to promote the consultation in other ways. It’s open to everyone, so do get involved.

While here in Brighton & Hove we’ve managed to make significant investments in major infrastructure and money-saving projects, things will be far from easy over the next few years. So it’s all the more important that residents, community organisations and businesses in the city tell us what they want our spending priorities and local services to look like next year and into the future.

More information and ways to provide feedback can be found at www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/bhbudget