Council Cutbacks

Disappointing news in this weeks Formby Times(1st November) that Sefton Libraries will no longer offer free internet to residents except for the elderly who will still be able to use these facilities free of charge. The idea is that users will get the first half hour free but will then have to pay for any extra time they spend on the web. Sadly this is the reality we face with £20.5million having to be saved in the next financial year.

 What makes this especially unfair is that some Councils have to make deeper cuts in expenditure than others, as Leader of the Council Peter Dowd said earlier this year Sefton had to make cuts equivalent to £160 per person whilst Dorset for example only had to make cuts worth £2 per head. I fear that many people within the Borough will lose a vital service that has been available for years, this is incredibly crucial as latest reports suggest that 30 percent of households do not have any form of internet access.

Only £4.1 million worth of cuts have been made so I wouldn’t be surprised if over the coming months and years we see further cutbacks to an already under funded service. We as the rate payers should make our voices heard and stand up to this sham Tory led government who are making the local authority cutback frontline services whilst in their heartlands in the South Councils have experienced relatively little change to their budgets.