£1m cuts a huge task for council

South Cambs District Council has said that a third year of 25 per cent cuts to government funding means that it will have to cut £300,000 of spending in 2014/15 and another £790,000 the following year, totalling more than £1m.

Councillor Simon Edwards, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said that all the obvious places to save have already been used.

Over the last four years the council has already cut spending by £5m.

He said: “There is no doubt that major national funding cuts over the last three years have left us with a massive task and we have difficult decisions to make to prioritise our limited resources where it is most needed.

“We now have to work harder than ever before to see how we can deliver further efficiencies which have as little impact as possible on residents.”

In the next financial year SCDC will move to monthly green waste collections in the winter to save money. Current collections are fortnightly.

The council also intends to redesign some of its blue bin collection rounds.

It will also make changes to its trade waste services.

Mr Edwards added: “I’m very proud of the way we have managed the reductions in our funding over the last few years and we are determined to do all we can to continue to provide the services people most need as well as maintaining the quality of life we all enjoy in South Cambridgeshire.

“What I can promise to residents is that we will be challenging convention, being smart with every penny and delivering innovative investments to generate an income to protect people from the worst of the cuts.”

A meeting of Council at South Cambridgeshire District Council will now consider the budget on Thursday (February 27).