Today we reveal the devastating cuts that will hit almost every council service in Manchester.
In what are described by town hall leader Sir Richard Leese as ‘the worst cuts since the war’, dozens of youth centres, libraries, nurseries, swimming pools and leisure centres will close.
Bin collections will go fortnightly, housing for more than 300 vulnerable families will be scrapped and council childcare costs will be hiked by more than quarter. Car parking prices will rocket and motorists will have to pay to park in Manchester on Sundays for the first time.
All overnight street cleaning will be axed and all public toilets will be closed – except for one.
Manchester Council held a summit meeting this morning where the plans were discussed in more detail. Reporter Deborah Linton sent live updates from it - click on the grey box at the bottom of the page to replay her coverage, or click here if you are reading on a mobile device.
More details of services affected by the cuts
Party's over for the mayor as managers face the chop
Nurseries hit as youth centres face the axe
Homes for the most needy are scrapped
Council service users' shock at closure plans
Comment: Council cuts that will hurt us all
The cuts come as town hall chiefs try to save £110m in a single year after the government stripped them of 21 per cent of their funding – more than virtually anywhere else in the country.
Council bosses admitted the cuts could devastate communities but said they had been left with no choice but to make ‘unpalatable’ decisions.
Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: "These are the worst cuts for more than 50 years.
"I cannot and will not pretend that the financial position in which we have been placed is anything other than bad news.
"We are doing everything we can to protect and maintain the services which people need and make sure funding is targeted where it will make the most positive difference."
Staff were today learning of the scale of the historic cuts – the result of weeks of book-balancing that will see virtually every area of council spending dramatically hacked back. We can also reveal that 41 per cent of the 2,000 town hall jobs that will go will be managerial posts, as the council strips out hundreds of highly-salaried staff.
Council tax will be frozen this year thanks to a special government subsidy but is likely to rise by around 2.5 per cent next year. All the cuts will be brought in by September.
To see full details of the planned cutbacks, visit www.manchester.gov.uk/budgetdetail.
More details of services affected by the cuts
Party's over for the mayor as managers face the chop
Nurseries hit as youth centres face the axe
Homes for the most needy are scrapped
Council service users' shock at closure plans
Comment: Council cuts that will hurt us all
This map shows some of the services which may be affected by the announcement today:
Key: Red icons = Sure Start centres, Yellow icons = Leisure centres, Green icons = libraries and Purple icons = youth centres
Manchester Council held a summit meeting this morning where the plans were discussed in more detail. Reporter Deborah Linton sent live updates from it - click on the grey box at the bottom of the page to replay her coverage, or click here if you are reading on a mobile device.
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Could be quite a queue building up at the public toilet then.
£110 miil? City loan more expensive flops out.............come Sheikhy, loan the council £110 mill a year or they may up your rent!
I heard somewhere that Manchester Council has in the region of £100 million banked. Is this true? And if it is then why are they making these cuts? Surely money is for a rainy day - and they don't get rainier than this.
On the upside if they want to rip people off for parking etc - fill your boots. It might help places like Rochdale where parking is now free. That's where I'll take my business.
So how many staff are being axed and by how much will the pension top up reduce to save money? Councils really are quite short sighted, by taking money from people in parking and childcare hikes they are simply taking away money from the shops, so shops close, people get laid off and then go on the dole. Dear oh dear. Cut services yes, but don't hike prices at a time when people are already struggling.
Cut your pension costs and oh yes, Bury, please return the £1m BSF money you took from us in our council tax, as clearly you havn't used the money for BSF.
Typical Manchester council using the cuts to create public reaction. When the public react to these politically motivated measures they must remember to vent their anger at Sir Richard and his minions as this is not where the cuts should be made. Get rid of the non jobs, non departments, the sick pay brigade, so called community grants to religeous, gay/lesbien, and all the other groups that should fund themselves and charities that do the same jobs and things. There are so many things the council do that we don`t need and he has chose to cut the things that we use.
HERE COMETHETH THE END OF THE WORLD!!!
what is cameron doing to our country?? he is destoying all our values and we will be left with nothing...tory scum !!!!!
Please keep public toilets open, when you need to go, you need to go
Thank you tories.
And Richard Leese will take a pay cut...
Erm, no sorry that's going too far
Fabbo, Less services and bigger bills. It's never the other way round is it?
Leese is talking rubbish. Instead of slaughtering services why not have the guts to make lazy overpaid council staff redundant, then make the other start working for a living and another way would be to revert back to working 40 hours instead of 35, this way every one takes a hit on their pay but actually doesn't miss it as they are working slight longer as opposed to seeing their pay packets reduce. Then lets see all the marvellous councillors taking a 30-40% cut on their pay and expenses starting with lees himself , then the Chief Executive, and down the line of those staff on over £100,000. Also if Leese bothered to get in the millions owed in Poll Tax yes Poll Tax and Council Tax then that would help too.The council has a duty to provide services but only essential ones, not some pratt on £55,000 to tell the kids of Manchester to eat 5 a day, most families in Manchester cant afford veg and fruit at that rate anyway. Another stupid money wasting scheme is the recycling officer.
How much will Mr Leese be paying to park his council Limo? RESIGN RESIGN RESIGN
Give it a year...Lets see how much the lib dems run the country into the gorund!
We are facing all these draconian cut's to quite ordinary services and facilitie's in an attempt to eek out an ordinary existence and yet we still accept paying immoral amounts in wages and transfer fee's to footballer's? Is it not about time society got it's value's right? The fat cat's are getting even fatter whilst the rest of us seem to forever on a diet with even fewer rations for the future. We all need to wake up and take control of our own destiny!
I welcome these cuts and I hope they result in a reduction in my council tax now and in the future.
Type your comment here...pay out pay out pay out thats all the working people do in this country now hows about getting the money back off the banks for starters!!!!
Let the moaning commence... Remember Charles Dickens said:
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
Still true to this day..
Can Mr Leese state what funds are available that have been set aside for a rainy day to offset these cuts?
To those who don't like these cuts can you please tell me what taxes you would like to increase so that we can retain the same services and not have ANY cuts?
I for one would be willing to have my income tax increased by 15% to help others.
Council Tax doubled in most ares during the last 13 years with no discernable difference in services.
Libraries? Peopl can buy discounted books, shop online and the younger generation mainly read online now so times they are a changing.
Lastly, if the council need to save £110m might a journalist not ask Mr Leese why the council is spending £170m on a Town Hall Extension? It is like me saying I have no money for food and then extending my house.
Also, ir might be worth pointing out to Mr Leese that there is no coincidence that they are the worst cuts in 50 years because the counbtry is in the worst state for 50 years, if not in istory.
Finally, it seems that a lot of these cuts are political as if to show the local electorate 'look what the Tories/Lib Dems' are doing.
Anyone else get the feeling their is something we are not being told....again?
...and so the destruction of the fabric of community life continues...
The 'people-haters' - all those who voted for this bitter and venomous regime - won't notice, they're too immersed in their 'me, me, me, culture, no doubt living alone, taking their pleasures in witnessing decent people struggle day--to-day, in fear for their jobs and homes... but they'll get their come-uppance one day, too. And that day may not be too far away.
The Tories - the LibDems are merely bit-part players in this tawdry circus - are intent on grabbing all they can, as quickly as they can, because they know they will never be forgiven by an electorate witnessing their destruction of Society... I hope they rot in Hell.
Sir Richard Leese said ‘the worst cuts since the war",
I think Richard conveniently forgets it was his New Labour party that embarked on the biggest, most intense, most financially irresponsible spending program of spending money we didn't have since the war. If he wants someone to blame, blame the goons that ran the NuLabour government for 13 years and sank the UK into the worst debt ever since the start of the 20th century.
Yes the cuts are savage and we are all going to suffer, but it is necessary to avoid complete financial collapse, runaway inflation, and financial meltdown in the years to come.
Type your comment here...What about all the non-jobs that appeared during the past decade? They should all go before any of the services mentioned in the article.It all sounds somewhat spiteful to me.
Blair's Britain = bankrupt nation
Quick Translation for those that cannot remenber pre-decimal.
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure £19.97 result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure £20.03 result misery."