Islington Council finance chiefs prepare for huge cuts in public budget

Published: 26 March, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

FINANCE chiefs are busy preparing for huge cuts to public services after the general election.

Islington Council’s chief executive John Foster said last week that he and his team are already drawing up plans in preparation for an emergency budget announcement in the summer.

Mr Foster, who will be the returning officer at this year’s election count, said: “We know that whoever is the national government there’s going to be less money for local government in the years ahead and that’s going to test local councils in terms of what we’re going to be able to achieve and do for local people. 

“That’s the challenge – how do we provide good quality services with less money coming in from central government?”

He added: “We expect whoever is the government to announce, probably in the summer, significant detail about how they are going to reduce the national deficit.

“Those of us in local government expect the larger share of the cuts will fall on local government. This is because both political parties have not included local government as one of their priority protected services.”

But, he said, he and his team were not waiting for the announcement, and have already started work on long-term plans.

Mr Foster said: “I’m working at the moment with the corporate directors and senior managers thinking about what this scenario is likely to mean for Islington – not over the next two or three years but probably what it means over the next 10 or 20 years.

“Really, to safeguard the best interests of Islington, we need to be thinking further ahead.”

He said he believed universal free school meals, which was introduced to all primary schools at the start of this term, will be not be affected, adding: “It’s obviously a priority for the council.”

But, Mr Foster said it would not be appropriate for him to predict the outcome of the election.