Job cuts '˜inevitable' as part of Hastings council budget

Hastings Borough Council leader Peter Chowney said redundancies are the only way to save the amount necessary as part of the 2016/17 budget.

But the authority would not be making ‘significant cuts’ to services and jobs after ‘careful’ financial management in anticipation of a drop in government funding.

“Although I am delighted that I am not having to announce further major cuts to jobs and services this year, the cuts in government grant we’re facing mean we will have to work hard over the next year to find different, more cost effective ways to provide services, for example by enabling more service applications to be made online,” he said.

“The council will need to change, focusing on activities and projects that can be self-financing or funded by grants from the European Union, for example.

“Some of these changes will inevitably mean job losses, as that’s the only way the council can save significant amounts of money.

“We will be working closely with our staff to manage this process as fairly and transparently as we can, and will keep any compulsory redundancies to a minimum.”

Cllr Chowney said the authority’s share of council tax will go up by 1.99 per cent, the equivalent of an extra 8p a week for a band D property.

The full draft corporate plan and budget is available at {http://www.hastings.gov.uk www.hastings.gov.uk}, and any comments should be emailed to .

Responses on the council’s proposals should be sent in by Friday, February 12, to be reported to cabinet three days later, with the full council making the final decision on February 24.

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