At last night’s (15th December) meeting of Worthing Borough Council Labour Councillors rejected proposals to invest in public services and warned that they would cut services instead if elected to power in May.
Conservative councillors successfully secured agreement on moves to set a budget that will deliver ambitious post pandemic plans for town centre regeneration, increased employment spaces, more family homes, better health care and no cuts to council services. Labour councillors rejected this approach and instead argued for a halt to plans to reinvigorate parks such as Brooklands and to scrap the town centre regeneration due to start in February.
Councillors heard that discarding the borough council’s income from rental agreements that Labour councillors oppose would blow a further hole in the annual budget of around £1.5million. Labour councillors have already said that they would prioritise spending on expensive bureaucratic reorganisations, increased numbers of committee meetings and more officer support for councillors rather than on plans to support Worthing residents.
The Labour cuts could include three weekly bin collections, reducing street sweeping and graffiti cleaning, closing public toilets, slashing the parks and gardens budget, cutting support for families at risk of homelessness or removing the council’s support for the local NHS. Labour group leader Beccy Cooper refused to say where the cuts would be focussed.
Conservative candidate for Broadwater, Paisley Thomson said, “Worthing residents only need to look to Brighton to see what happens when Labour get their way and cut services to waste money on pointless reorganisations and extra committee meetings. Dirty, grimy streets covered in litter, graffiti, chewing gum and even human faeces, uncollected household waste strewn over pavements, some of the worst rough sleeping figures in western Europe, public toilets locked up, car parking charges of up to £5.00 per hour and serious failings in the local health service. It beggars belief that rather than take this as a warning, Worthing’s Labour councillors are using Brighton as a blueprint”.
