Gloucestershire County Council has a £108 million budget challenge over the next four years. Proposals have now been published on how they will meet this challenge, through service changes and back office reductions.
The council launched the Meeting the Challenge programme in August 2010 in response to planned cuts in funding from central government. Initially, they were expecting to make savings of £120 million but following the government's spending review and its decision to invest extra money into social care, the shortfall is now £108 million over four years.
During September, approximately 5,000 people took part in roadshows and surveys asking them which services they would protect, reduce or stop altogether. Overwhelmingly, people voted in favour of protecting services for older and vulnerable people; child protection and Fire & Rescue. The most popular choices to stop or reduce included parking, school transport, archives and libraries.
Proposals have now been discussed, the most significant being plans to overhaul library and youth support, as well as transferring buildings back to the community for local use.
If young people wish to find out more and have a say, they can do so by the following:
- By posting their comments on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/meeting the challenge. There are discussion threads in place where they can give their views
- By completing an online survey hosted on WhatNowGlos website (link will go live on Monday 22 Nov)
- By responding to the questions in the Young People’s Service Change Leaflet – these can be completed by individuals or groups
- By adding their comments to a Graffiti poster – distributed to Youth Centres
