Shropshire Council to Make Decisions on Spending Cuts

A major report into spending cuts is to be considered by Shropshire Council’s Cabinet today.

The report sets out clear priorities for both investment in some key services and a review of the scope or standards of other services where savings need to be made.

Initial estimates show the council needs to save £66 million over the next four years from 2011/12 – finding £16 million more than originally planned, as a result of the Government’s spending review.

Councillors and senior managers say they have looked at ways to save money in everything the council does, to avoid major impact on essential frontline services. The approach to the first round of savings includes working more closely with local voluntary and community organisations, cutting back on administrative and management costs, more imaginative ways of working with other local councils, merging staff teams, and making better use of shared resources.

Council Leader, Keith Barrow, said the amount of savings required would inevitably mean the council needed to change the way it worked, such as devolving some services to community organisations. And he said less essential public services would have to be scaled back or stopped altogether in future years, to protect funding for those services local people value most.