Wednesday is the
meeting of Manchester City Council’s Executive where the Budget cuts 2013-15
will be discussed.
More precisely its
Wednesday 13 February 2013 Time: 10.00 am Venue: Committee Room 11, Level
1, Town Hall.
The Green Party is
going along. We are interested to see what they have to say about the cuts in
services particularly with regard to libraries and swimming pools.
The Council says that
those swimming pools and libraries services under threat are going to come back
in a few years.
We don’t believe it.
Those facilities are
not coming back in any recognizable form.
Why are we so
sceptical? Because of something the council writes in its own Budget Response
Document 2013/15. In it (point 51),
the council asks its officers to “analyse the Council’s budget position beyond
2014/15 given that funding is expected to fall whilst demand for services will
continue to rise “.
That analyse predicts
that by 2018/19 the only services that will be able to be funded by the council
will be Social Care, Environment, Transport and Capital.
That means that
Neighbourhood Services, which includes libraries, swimming pools, culture and
parks will be completely cut. So how are those pools and libraries going to be
run?
That prediction is
only 5 years away.
Instead of engaging
with local communities concerned about their parks, pools and libraries, those
campaigners are dismissed as “a handful of noisy
protesters”, their activities as
‘stunts’. Attempts by communities to engage the
council on talks to take over buildings or services, such as in Hulme, have met
with silence.
Local Labour
councillors will throw their hands in the air and say that there is nothing
they can do, they have to vote for the cuts.
Don’t you believe it.
Labour councillors
from all over the country are organising against the cuts. The Labour Councillors against the cuts website lists an initial 25 councillors
who are not prepared to vote for cuts to local services.
Manchester Green Party applauds
their stand. That is principle.
Its unfortunate that not a single one of the 86 Manchester Labour
councillors is on that list. We predict you won’t find one in the future either.
The Budget response
(60) also says “Only the Council has the leadership capacity to protect the
City's future, and chart a new direction”.
They may have the
capacity, they don’t have the ideas.
If you don’t believe
us, go to the committee meeting on Wednesday.
The Green Party.
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