Concerns about cuts targeting vulnerable teenagers and community groups prompted councillors to call for changes to the budget for the financial year starting in April.
The savings package put forward at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Policy and Resources Committee yesterday (Thursday 10 February) was described as “painful”.
But the starting point had been an estimated shortfall of £18 million, forecast last July.
The ruling Greens have worked with officials to come up with cuts and savings that have narrowed the gap to just under £2 million.
The budget proposals include putting up council tax by 1.99 per cent – the maximum permitted without winning approval in a local referendum – and an extra 1 per cent for adult social care.
But the proposed cuts will affect the Youth Arts Award scheme, youth grants and ward budgets where councillors support small-scale projects in their area.
The joint Labour opposition leader John Allcock urged the Greens to keep funding the Youth Arts Award programme, which supports young people with mental health issues and helps care leavers gain qualifications.
Councillor Allcock said: “I’ve heard from users and parents in my ward who have informed me how vital this scheme is when other mainstream education provision isn’t available due to an individual young person’s needs.
“Some of the benefits of the Arts Award is it is really accessible to young people when others aren’t accessible. It helps facilities users to gain confidence and build practical and social skills.
He said that the higher level award carried 16 UCAS points for young people applying to university but was a targeted project.
The council’s executive director for families, children and learning Deb Austin said that the council would try to minimise the impact on young people, adding that other programmes locally offered arts-related activities.
Conservative councillor Joe Miller offered support to find funds to restore youth services earmarked for cuts.
He said: “We will as ever endeavour to work collaboratively to ensure the most vulnerable in the city don’t receive unnecessary cuts to their services when it isn’t needed in our view.”
The joint Labour opposition leader Carmen Appich said: “We all have to pay extra, not just to stand still, but actually to make savings – and increase fees and charges – like last year, the year before and the year before that.
“I can’t tell you how angry that makes me. None of us in here became councillors so we can say to you year after year, pay more and you will get less, or we’ll scrimp and save around to find savings here or there.”
Councillor Appich said that the proposed cut in ward budgets from £1,000 to £500 was “shameful” because the money supported small community projects that otherwise struggled for funding.
She welcomed plans though to continue investment in “Housing First” to house vulnerable people.
Green councillor Tom Druitt said that he shared the concerns that youth arts and services had been under pressure.
He said: “After the administration went through a really painstaking three-month process of looking at all of the really horrible things that were on the table, we came up with just under £10 million worth (of savings) and we were asked to go back after the first tranche of savings proposals to then find more.
“Everything that we said absolutely no to in the autumn was suddenly back on the table. We have worked day and night trying to reduce the number of those things as much as possible.”
Councillor Druitt welcomed prospective amendments to the budget – and councillors now have two weeks to work together come up with plans to protect those services facing cuts.
He said that it was the first time in the council’s history that an administration had had to smoothe a revenue budget by using almost £2 million from reserves over four years.
Green councillor David Gibson said that he encouraged amendments to improve the budget as long as it was “clean money” that did not involve “robbing Petra to pay Paula”.
Conservative and Labour councillors abstained from voting on the budget at this stage.
The 2022-23 budget is due to be set at a meeting of the full council at the Brighton Centre on Thursday 24 February. It is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Perhaps don’t waste £10m on schemes to make the city carbon neutral by 2030 and let the government fund a national strategy.
CO2 is a global, not a local, problem and a small seaside unitary authority becoming net zero, even if it were possible, will achieve nothing of value.
I love the “robbing Petra to pay Paula”. The Greens are nothing if not predictable in their oratory.