'˜Kick in the teeth' as £1.7m cuTS bite

Members unanimously approved a draft budget, to be looked at early in the New Year by the council’s overview and scrutiny committees, which will be used to consult people and businesses over how and where savings can be made.

But council leader Carl Maynard (Con) said it was “inevitable” that services would suffer and heard both Tory and Lib Dem councillors condemn the way in which Communities Minister Eric Pickles had pulled the wool over their eyes and the rug from beneath their feet.

Led to believe cuts would be contained to a level it had already been preparing for, Rother was devastated to find itself charging the lowest council tax in East Sussex but, with neighbouring Wealden, facing the county’s highest cut in support - 16.8 per cent.

Cllr Martin Mooney (Con) told cabinet: “We are a lean council and have been for years, yet what do we get for it? A kick in the teeth. It’s absolutely despicable.”

For residents, the pain could be literal and leg-crossing. Rother currently provides public toilets, but is not obliged to, and withdrawing such facilities could, in theory at least, be one way to save money.

Though unlikely, Cabinet members were left in no doubt that nothing was sacred in the search for economies. Cllr Maynard said every councillor would need to be involved in pin-pointing savings and getting the message through to residents that cuts would have to be made.

Liberal Democrat leader Sue Prochak repeated assurances given to full council that her group would throw itself behind the Tories to help achieve this, and added: “We shall not be proposing an alternative budget.”

The plan is to work with other councils and partners, to change working practices, to encourage residents towards “self-help”, to make better use of technology and to slash office and building costs. A pay and recruitment freeze, with 10 per cent of vacancies now unfilled, will continue.

While this should address immediate problems, more belt-tightening will be needed to tackle further shortfalls up to 2015 and possibly beyond. Cllr Maynard, who felt quangos such as the DVLA should have been hit before local authorities, warned of a lot of hard work ahead.

He said: “The government settlement gives us little choice but to make difficult decisions we would otherwise not wish to make. It is inevitable that there will be changes in the way we deliver many services and we will engage with residents during this process.”

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