Jobs to go in £86m Walsall Council cuts
Hundreds of jobs will be lost, libraries and children's centres will close and millions of pounds will be slashed from youth services in Walsall.
Walsall Council has unveiled its controversial masterplan to save £86million from its budget over the next four years.
Bosses want to make savings of £29million next year, with 487 jobs set to be axed. A further £57m will be cut over the following three years.
Under the plans revealed at a press conference at Walsall Council House last night, eight of Walsall's 16 libraries will close, 12 children's centres will also shut, as well as Walsall Museum.
Other cost cutting measures include bin collections becoming fortnightly instead of weekly, charges being introduced for green waste collections and slashing just over £2m from the youth services budget.
Around £900,000 less will be spent on maintaining parks and green spaces in the borough.
Council leader Sean Coughlan said it was the biggest budget cuts he had ever seen at the council.
He said: "These are the most horrific budget cuts this council has ever faced.
"There will be closures of children's centres, a reduction in youth services and we will be reducing the number of libraries. We are having to redesign services.
"There won't be a service area that does not feel some pain from this. This has been a really difficult day."
Councillor Coughlan said other councils in the region were having to make budget cuts and it was not only Walsall Council that was faced with a tough decision.
See also: Axe posted over £3m library and children's centre
£4.5m redundancy payments at Walsall Council
How will the cuts affect you? Are they fair? Have your say in the comments below.
But he added: "Schools will continue to educate our children. roads will be maintained, bins will be collected and grass will be cut."
He pointed out that within the budget the council was still spending £140million on education, £56m on children's services and ££43m on transport.
Taxpayers will now be asked what they think of the devastating budget cuts proposals during a consultation before the budget is given final approval next year.
This year, £21 million was slashed from Walsall Council's budget. Some £6.82m was cut from social care and health, £5.1m from children's services, £1.5m from leisure and culture, £1.69m from regeneration and transport, and £2.3m from resources and around 422 jobs were lost.
