As central government cuts have led to a 17 per cent fall in council spending on local services in England since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.
Between then and the end of the decade, grant funding for councils in England has been reduced by £16 billion and there have also been significant cuts for councils in Wales and Scotland.
The scale of almost a decade of savage austerity cuts to local communities across Britain is laid bare by a series of Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests across England, Scotland and Wales asked about the changes in local services between 2010 and 2019 for several key council services, including youth centres, public toilets, libraries and subsidised bus routes.
The FOI findings, using data for 330 local authorities show the human cost of the cutbacks.
For example, a total of 859 children’s centres and family hubs, which provide support services for babies, young people and families, have been lost.
More than 21 per cent of public toilets have been closed, with more than 835 public conveniences disappearing since the Conservatives came to power. Just look around us locally, oh what a mess.
Meanwhile, the number of council subsidised bus routes has decreased by almost a third (32 per cent), a reduction of more than 1,224 services, increasing the isolation of many living in rural communities.
More than one in five (22 per cent) libraries have either closed, been privatised or are now staffed by volunteers. This is a decrease of 738 council run libraries. Over the past decade there’s been a ten fold rise in the number run by volunteers, up from 21 to 227.
Each cut has a major impact on a community, whether it’s a pensioner feeling isolated in their home because they cannot get a bus or people being unable to borrow books or use the internet in local libraries. The widespread axing of youth centres has left many young people with nowhere to turn at crucial points in their lives.
This is the shocking legacy of nine years of Tory spending cuts and as we enter a new decade will it be business as usual from the newly elected Conservative government?
I am so pleased I was amongst the ten million people who voted for hope and change.
Rodney Sadd
Carrington Road
Spalding
