Where will the axe fall..?

As the county council considers how to save £155m from its budget, petitions to save some services are growing. One petition wants to save social services who help some of the “most vulnerable” in society. Another group campaigning to save The Schools Music Service, is hoping to collect 5000 signatures by Christmas day.

With less than a month before the public consultation closes, opposition to some of the proposed cuts is increasing.

A petition has been started to fight cuts to social services. This includes the Sensory Support Team, which helps deaf and blind people continue to live independently. A former manager of the team, Verity Gibson, says she’s incensed by the proposal: “I’m devastated. I can’t understand why they would pick on that particular group. One of the council’s aims is to help the most vulnerable in society.” She added these cuts seem like a backward step: “I think all the developments we made over the past 20 years will be lost.”

Councillor Stephen Little (Green, Town Close) organised the petition: “There may be ways to save the threatened services but the cuts are coming so deep and fast, that a nationally recognised service such as the Sensory Support Service is not being given the chance to find a way to continue. This is surely scandalous.”

Last week, students marched on County Hall, protesting over proposals to withdraw funding of post 16 transport, potentially saving £2.5 m.

Also among the proposed cuts is a reduction in council’s contribution to the funding of the Schools Music Service, saving a potential £67,000. A petition has been set up campaigning against this, by a former teacher and now Labour County Councillor, Bert Bremner ( Lab, University): “It’s kids from poorer backgrounds whose parents won’t be able to afford the lessons.”

Norfolk County Council should learn later today how much their budget has been cut by. One their website they say: “Exceptional times demand an exceptional response and only a fundamental reform of what the County Council does and the way in which it does it will do…[]This conversation is about how, with your help, we can create a new chapter for some of the county’s public services. We would like your views about what the County Council should be expected to do and provide in the future, paid for through your taxes, and what we should support, encourage or expect individuals or communities to do for themselves.”

People can still join “The Big Conversation“, telling the council which services it should continue to provide, before the deadline of 10th January 2010.

Tags: Campaign, Education, Local government, music

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