Northumberland council bosses face budget cuts decision wait

Jan 30 2010 by David Black, The Journal

BELEAGUERED council bosses in Northumberland have been left anxiously waiting for a key Government decision on whether they will have to find a further £11m in “horrendous” budget cuts.

County council leaders expected to be told yesterday whether ministers will allow them to use a financial loophole to avoid having to make almost £30m in savings this year.

But last night – as the authority revealed it has dropped plans to close a number of tourist information centres in Northumberland – there had still been no decision from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

A meeting of the Liberal Democrat executive was adjourned yesterday to await an answer from Whitehall on whether the council can ‘capitalise’ significant costs incurred through staff redundancies and potential losses from investment in collapsed Icelandic banks.

If the DCLG says yes, savings totalling around £18.7m are required in 2010/11. And a negative response would push the total up to £29.9m and require further cuts and efficiencies described as horrendous by senior councillors.

Yesterday’s executive approved a package of savings based on the assumption the capitalisation request will be approved, which involves a 2.8% rise in council tax bills in April.

Executive member for corporate resources, Andrew Tebbutt, said a proposal to close several of the county’s 13 tourist information centres (TICs) had now been dropped, and the £71,250 saving identified elsewhere. The TICs earmarked for closure had not been publicly identified, but were understood to be those in Wooler, Amble, Corbridge, Bellingham and Haltwhistle.