BCP Council has passed its budget for 2024/25, with further cuts totalling £41m. The cuts include reductions to library opening hours, plus permanent closure of King’s Park Plant Nursery. This is the ongoing result of 14 years of austerity cuts to councils’ funding from central Government – their main income source.
Green councillors abstained in the budget vote. Green Group Leader Chris Rigby acknowledged council bosses’ achievement in balancing the books, but told councillors: “I’m tired of choosing which cuts we have to do – tired of central Government setting what we can and cannot do.
“Councils need to come together, fight back, say ‘enough is enough’ – we don’t have the funds to deliver what our communities need.”