30 July 2004
Local government leaders are painting a gloomy picture of their ability to meet Sir Peter Gershon's efficiency targets, predicting inevitable service cuts and council tax hikes.
Addressing a Local Government Association conference on the 2004 Spending Review, Helen Kilpatrick, director of resources and county treasurer at West Sussex County Council, said there were serious questions hanging over local government's ability to deliver.
'In waste there are enormous pressures with no additional funding. We're expected to make £300m of efficiency savings, which I think would be extremely difficult,' she said.
Inadequate resourcing of environmental protection and community services, coupled with the need to comply with waste disposal targets, will see services such as street cleaning, parks and libraries cut back, Kilpatrick predicted.
She said that workforce reform, revalued pension contributions and the new children's social services regime would only intensify cost pressures.
But Geoffrey Tierney, who heads the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's team on local government efficiency and modernisation, said that the efficiency targets were tough but achievable. He added that councils should regard the efficiency agenda as 'profound, challenging and exciting'.
'There are authorities with huge amounts of energy and ambition that want to share their good practice,' he said.
The LGA has warned that town halls need an extra £1bn if council tax rises are to be kept in the low single figures and new legislative obligations paid for.
The LGA this week had an informal meeting with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to see how the gap can be met.
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