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You can’t bury cuts under a pile of clichés
• COUNCILLOR Paul Barton’s use of tabloid clichés does not hide the cuts being made in Camden Council’s services (Slap in the face for silent majority, March 15) .
We don’t know what all the cuts will be, but those already out in the open (including cuts to the grants to Citizens Advice Bureau and the Law Centre, big rises in meal charges to old people and loss of meal service to hostels) will hurt the most vulnerable.
If the Tories had been honest in their election material about these cuts, rather than claiming they would give better for less, it is quite possible that the silent majority he claims to be able to hear – presumably using extra-sensory perception – would not have voted for them. As the savings/cuts roll out, we will see whether they fall on the poor or the prosperous.
One place they could look for genuine savings is closer to home. The CNJ reported Tory councillor Andrew Marshall justifying the recent upgrade of three directors posts, giving a huge 29 per cent pay rise. Why not freeze the directors’ salaries and use the money saved to keep on some of the much lower-paid workers who help the most needy local people?
Cllr Barton claims that a rise of council tax in line with inflation suggested by Adrian Oliver would be a slap in the face for the silent majority. In fact, for most of us it would be a small rise, which we would adjust to.
For the many wealthy Camden residents, it would be less than a blip.
The sooner we get a fairer system of raising money for local services, based on people’s ability to pay, the better. We could have properly planned and funded services without those unable to pay being hurt.
SALLY and SEAN THOMPSON
St Albans Road, NW5
• I AM so glad someone is drawing attention to the in-house overspending of Camden Council.
Theatres, libraries, swimming pools I can stand – it’s part of the joy of living in London. But I object to overpaid council staff, overstaffed council offices, and unnecessary “information” literature, which I put straight in the bin.
Forty-five years of work and I never managed to save enough money to get out of council property or get out of London and now they want what I did save in order to fill their wish-list of good deeds.
NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
• MOST Camden residents and councillors would assume the sad announcement of cuts was over for this year.
But the finance paper going to the Mental Health and Social Care Trust Board today (Thursday) has some sweeping statements about forthcoming cuts, including the following items:
n “London Borough of Camden have indicated a required reduction of 2.5 per cent savings plus another five per cent savings on staff costs”. The same requirement made on council services, but no sign of scrutiny or openness in how this is to be achieved.
n “More effective use of community mental health teams”. We already know from a botched consultation earlier this year that this means cuts in some teams.
n “Reducing length of stay in acute services… this would enable the closure of some acute and PICU beds.” Don’t you think service users would value a chance to hear about this before it gets included in a budget? As we know, sending people home before they are completely well is a very bad idea.
n “Tottenham Mews walk-in centre would be reconfigured and staff redeployed.” I presume that euphemism means it will be cut.
Right at the end of the paper, it states “some aspects of the programme will be subject to public and staff consultation”. Yes, I should think so.
How about a bit of openness and transparency from the council’s nominees to this board?
CLLR PENNY ABRAHAM
(Lab) Town Hall
Judd Street
WC1
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