EALING Council rubber-stamped cuts of £36million at a meeting this week, despite protests from opposition councillors who branded it a savage attack on public services.
Those responsible for keeping streets and parks clean and safe will have their budgets cut and the fate of day-care centres providing much-needed help for the disabled was sealed. About 100 employees and more agency staff will lose their jobs.
Charges for everything from pest control to being buried in the borough will also increase, some have already risen. But the storm of protest at other boroughs was not seen here and police posted outside the council chamber found themselves at a loose end.
It was partly because many of the battles had already been fought at cabinet and scrutiny committee meetings.
At Tuesday's council meeting, Conservative councillor Mark Reen said: "Nineteen million pounds worth of savings are yet to come. If you want to know why the public gallery is not full it's because the proposals that might fill them have not been introduced."
He was talking about cuts in development that the council says need consultation before they can be introduced. They include closing libraries, with Hanwell and Perivale the ones opposition councillors say are in the firing line as they are the least-used, and cutting meals on wheels.
The Labour-run administration blamed the government for slashing funding and forcing them to cut the budget by a massive £55m in the next three financial years.
This is about 25 per cent of what the council has to spend on services. It will cut £22m of that within the financial year beginning in April.
At Tuesday's meeting, council-lors also ratified almost £7m of savings for the following year and £6m for the year beginning April 2013. That still leaves a shortfall of £19m.
Opposition leader Jason Stacey said they could have been more innovative and looked at schemes, such as sharing services with other boroughs, to make savings.
Council leader Julian Bell said most of the savings had been made through efficiencies rather than cutting services. He said because the government was making the deepest funding cuts in the first year there was no time to prepare innovative schemes.
Mr Stacey dismissed this as an excuse. He said senior managers should be doing more to bear the brunt of the cuts. Mr Bell said he would be reducing the cost of senior managers by 30 per cent in the next three years through job losses and scrapping the bonus scheme.
The Liberal Democrats' proposal to have councillor allowances cut by 10 per cent was shot down, but Mr Bell said allowances would be reduced by cutting the number of special responsibilities, such as heading committees, that councillors are paid more for.
Mr Malcolm said the 10 per cent cut could have been used towards keeping front-line staff. He said: "When you're making front-line staff redundant you've got to show you've taken all other options into account."
There was some good news for residents: council tax has been frozen for next year.
Although it may go up in 2013, Mr Bell said it was likely to be below inflation if it did.
Where the axe will fall - see page 2
**The LINKS Project and Albert Dane day centres, in Greenford and Southall, are now definitely to close. Both the LINKS project, which helps those with mental health problems and the Albert Dane Centre, which supports those with physical disabilities, have been credited with transforming the lives of their users.
**Rangers who patrol parks making sure they are safe and well-maintained will be cut from 20 to 11.
**The budget for the 40 council-funded PCSOs will be cut by a quarter, from £1million to £750,000. It will mean fewer officers but the council hopes to fund more PCs and use the team in a different way to help mitigate the loss. They will announce more details of this soon.
**The monitoring team making sure street cleaning is being done properly is to be scrapped. With nobody filling this role, or contractors responsible for their own standards, it may mean the service will get worse and streets getting dirtier.
**The enviro-crime unit, with its 23 officers who tackle fly-tipping and other issues, is to be slashed by half. There will no longer be one officer per ward enabling them to get to know their patch and their ability to tackle complicated cases will be curtailed.
**The graffiti-removal teams are to be cut from nine to seven, meaning it will take longer for it to be cleaned.
**Three hundred council posts are to be cut. With 119 to be created, it means more than 100 people employed by the council will lose their jobs. More agency staff will also be sacked. More job losses are to come when the council identifies more savings.
**Council tax has been frozen for next financial year. It may go up the following year but probably not above inflation.
**£45million to create more badly needed primary school places within the next four years. This comes from a borrowed pot of money which has a repayment timeframe of 20 years.
