Lib Dem Leader writes to The Times criticising cuts to local government

Blackburn with Darwen Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr. David Foster, joined with other Lib Dem Leaders and Local Government Association Vice-Chair Cllr. Richard Kemp critising the level cuts imposed on local government by the Coalition government.

Sir,

Local government is playing its part in tackling the country's deficit and advancing the Coalition's key aims of Localism and the Big Society. But local - and central - government are being badly let down by the Communities & Local Government Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, who appears incapable of leading the change that's so desperately needed.

Local government has made efficiency savings of 3% each year for the past eight years - in stark contrast to the run-away spending of central government under the previous administrations. We've also been planning for further saving - much further - since the true state of the economy became apparent six months ago.

What Mr Pickles has delivered to the sector though is the most severe cuts package across all government departments and the most severe to the sector in living memory. These cuts will have a massive impact on all council services - including care services - and cannot be done without cuts to the frontline services and making forced redundancies.

Rather than assist the country's recovery by making savings to the public sector in a way that can protect local economies and the frontline, Pickles' savage cuts are structured in such a way that they will do the opposite. The local government Settlement will take a massive hit in this coming financial year and further - smaller - cuts in subsequent years. This front-loading means councils do not have the lead-in time necessary to re-engineer services on a lower cost base and ease staff cuts without forced, expensive redundancies.

Mr Pickles' role should have been to facilitate necessary savings while at the same time facilitate the advance of Localism and the Big Society. Unfortunately since the general election Eric Pickles and his Department has proved itself incapable of either and is instead presenting his department as an expensive and irrelevant bureaucracy.

Local government is united with central government on its agendas. We are both hampered though by Mr Pickles and his Department which appears set on making the agenda fail. The hundreds of millions of pounds that the DCLG costs to run each year could be a big efficiency saving that would be far better spent on protecting council frontline services and delivering those services our communities need.

Yours etc