Yet More Local Services Face Drastic Cuts...

On Monday protesters gathered in Lewisham (where £88m in cuts are expected over the next four years) to demonstrate over further council cuts announced this week, economically it doesn't feel like things can get much worse, but still cuts continue to demoralise communities and oppress standards of living in London and the whole of the country.

This is bad news for just about every borough in London and in Crystal Palace Croydon, Bromley and Lewisham borough councils are set to hack even more of our public services which include healthcare reforms and cuts to the NHS. Interesting as I remember the very direct election campaign poster, showing David Cameron next to his pre-election statement where he claimed he would: "Cut the deficit, not the NHS." Really, Mr Cameron? Are you sure??

Bromley Council has had a massive £22m slashed from their government funding and have 150 cuts planned which include reducing funding to sheltered housing schemes by £1.3m and cutting local lollipop ladies.

Croydon Council say they have already made savings of £60m over the previous 4 years, so cuts will be less severe than in other areas, most of the savings will be made by cutting 310 council jobs.

Lewisham Council needs to save £88m over the next four years, so residents living under this borough will face the most severe cuts, which include:

Cutting local assembly grants

Removing all dog waste bins

Slashing home care support for the elderly and increasing the charges for Meals on Wheels

End night time rubbish collections

Reducing street sweeping

Nearly half the libraries in Lewisham will close despite the objections of over 20,000 residents

It seems only residents lucky enough to live in Southwark borough, have managed to escape the majorityof the cuts for now, but how long must we suffer this inhumane slaughter to our services? We've already lost the battle to save Sydenham library and the loss of such vital resources impacting lower and middle income homes is monumental, just last month it was reported that  the child poverty rate in the UK, is now the worst in Europe.

What has happened here? How is it possible that even though we're told the economy is becoming more stable and banks are back to paying out millions in annual bonuses, at the other end of the spectrum there is still an increasing number of people who are barely able to meet  the cost of living, let alone have anything to save. The growing rate of unemployment, homelessness and crime is alarming and a clear indication of the real state of the economy. Anger and desperation has spawned a generation of people who long lost respect for a government who has once again, lied to us all.

I wonder what else there is left to cut and realistically how far we are from having to make a choice between keeping a roof over our heads and having enough money to eat. Disturbingly feeding the disadvantaged and homeless is not a priority for the government and in Westminster there are plans to ban soup kitchens and the offering of free food, to those who would either have to scavenge for scraps or go without, which means 'Good Samaritans' could face prosecution if they are caught giving away food. I honestly didn't think I would live to see a day when such a sick suggestion could even be conceived, let alone made law. I wonder if I am alone in asking how it has become accepted for 'Joe public' to be paying the price for a crisis not of their making, inherently funding the lifestyles of the rich and being denied basic human rights in return.

The Guardian has a full list of London borough council cuts, if you want to see what services will be affected in your neighbourhood.

Photo: faceme