GREENWICH: 'Secretive' council estimates £70m cuts (From News Shopper)

GREENWICH: 'Secretive' council estimates £70m cuts

7:30am Friday 27th August 2010 in

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GREENWICH Council estimates it needs to make £70m in savings - but its “secretive” leader has refused to reveal where the money will come from.

In an interview with News Shopper, Councillor Chris Roberts admitted the scale of the cuts which could be required but refused to give any details until the Government announces its spending review in October.

Cllr Roberts said: “We’ve been told to expect cuts of 40 per cent in our grants which would equate to £70m.”

But asked where the axe could fall he said: “The only thing I can say at the moment is nothing is ruled out and nothing is ruled in.

“It’s difficult to put a shape on it until we do know the scale. If it appears evasive it isn’t meant to be.”

Last year, a leaked document revealed the Labour council was planning £26.8m in cuts but Mr Roberts said officers were now looking at slashing £35m in the coming year.

The document included the possibility of ceasing investment in the Met’s successful Violent and Organised Crime Unit and Cleansweep, but Mr Roberts could not say if this was still a possibility.

Cllr Roberts said: “We’re going to try to be as focussed and targeted as we can in terms of protecting the frontline and essential services”

Behind the scenes, senior officers have been asked to draw up cost-cutting plans, starting by cutting procurement costs and finding ways of sharing commissioning and administration with other local authorities, the police, heath services and universities.

And Cllr Roberts said the Eltham Centre was an example of how the council can effectively combine different services while cutting costs.

But he warned that education spending and “sensitive” areas like social care and child protection accounted for three-quarters of the council’s budget - with the rest taken up by all other services like libraries and street cleaning.

He said: “If it does come out at 40 per cent I think it’s impossible not to see some cuts somewhere on the frontline.”

In neighbouring Lewisham, the council has revealed initial cost-cutting proposals and put them out to public consultation.

But Mr Roberts ruled out a similar approach in Greenwich.

He said: “That’s just not where we start from. I wouldn’t want to come out and say ‘we’re going to close x number of libraries’.

“It risks raising levels of anxiety with people that you might not need to raise.”

Greenwich voluntary groups have already been contacted by the council warning funding for the sector is likely to be halved.

And campaign group Greenwich Save Our Services plans to protest outside Woolwich Town Hall on September 21, calling on the council to fight government cost-cutting.

Member Paul Callanan said: “They’re being secretive and they’re doing that beacuse they want as little resistance as possible.”

He added: “Council services will be slashed, how else can you make cuts of £70 million?”