Green budget: 'Sadly, this time cuts will hurt'

Job losses at Brighton and Hove City Council are certain - even with a 5.9% increase in council tax, Brighton and Hove Independent can reveal.

A significant number of redundancies - some of them could be compulsory - might be required, with "service redesigns" in three key areas: CityClean, housing, and learning disability services.

Some services that have been free in the past may have to be charged for under budget proposals to be published today (Friday) by the minority Green administration.

Fears about the harsh choices facing councillors were spelled out by Councillor Ollie Sykes, the Green lead member for finance, who warned about "cliff-edge cuts" as government grants fall next year by £18 milllion.

'Sadly, this time it will hurt," Cllr Sykes said.

'The government cuts are so huge and there's nothing left to squeeze. It means that business will no longer be as usual. Unlike the past, some council services will have to shrink or go. There will be redundancies and there will be protests against those redundancies.'

Even a 5.9% council tax rise would protect only £4 million of services.

Green councillors have already announced that they will seek the increase in council tax to help bridge a £26 million funding gap. They have, however, insisted that they will not support any moves to nearly triple the amount of council tax paid by some of the 16,000 poorest households in the city who benefit from the council's Council Tax Reduction scheme (CTR).

In an exclusive interview, Cllr Sykes said: 'We won't tax the poorest in the city to benefit the better-off. We will look for alternative ways of positioning our services.'

He said cuts of £70 million had been made by the city council in the last four years and argued local authorities had been forced to make a disproportionate contribution to national deficit reduction. "We think that has gone far enough and we can't take any more cuts and basic services are going to start to be affected,' he said.

'The reduction in funding next year is the equivalent of total spending on child disability services, child protection, community safety, parks, planning, highways maintenance and libraries put together. That gives you the idea of the scale.'

He challenged Labour - which is expected to favour a 1.99% council tax increase, the most allowed without a referendum - to come up with their own proposals: 'They're going to have to come up with some pretty swingeing cuts to local services.

'The difference between a freeze budget of the Conservatives and a 'threshold' budget from Labour is about £0.9m - out of £26m.'

■ In a statement, Warren Morgan, leader of the 14 members of the Labour and Co-operative Group - the smallest group on the council - said: 'The Greens' unworkable scheme will only happen if residents voted for a £100-a-year council tax increase in a doomed referendum costing almost a million pounds, one that would hit the very people they claim to be trying to help.

'Instead of calling on the Conservative government to reverse this cut to support local people on low incomes, they are playing political games to try and make Labour look bad ahead of the local elections. Residents have had enough of the Greens and their games, and are now looking to Labour to take the fight to the Tories in May.'