Yorkshire region will be ‘hit hard’ by extra council budget cuts (From Craven Herald)

Yorkshire region will be ‘hit hard’ by extra council budget cuts

9:00am Tuesday 9th October 2012 in News

Local authority leaders in the region are warning that Yorkshire and Humber will be hit hard by “hidden” budget cuts for local services which are much higher than the Government has announced.

Across the region it is estimated that councils may now have to deal with a further £100m of cuts.

It follows Bradford Council learning more than a week ago of £10m in extra cuts for 2013/14.

The T&A reported that Council leader David Green (pictured) outlined the latest Government moves, which involve the authority having to find a potential £6.7m to extend free early education places to two-year-olds, and £3.5m which will be kept back by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the localisation of business rates.

Now Councillor Mehboob Khan, chairman of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber, has criticised the “hidden” nature of the extra cuts.

He said: “This is unacceptable, unreasonable and undemocratic – particularly given that we had both Eric Pickles’ and Nick Clegg’s personal promises that “no council would be worse off” in the new system.”