Spending cuts could hit devolved services in Birmingham
Birmingham City Council’s six-year experiment with devolution could become the most significant victim of public spending cuts yet.
Local authority leaders have started consulting on proposals to strip the ten constituency committees of their powers to run local services.
If the idea is accepted, responsibility for refuse collection, street cleaning, parks and allotments, pest control, sports centres, car parks and neighbourhood offices would be handed back to cabinet members and officials in the Council House.
The constituency committees, made up of local councillors, could be abandoned and replaced by area or ward committees which would act as sounding boards and scrutiny bodies.
The centralisation programme, which could save £1.5 million a year, would see the council’s governance arrangements revert back to the system that existed prior to 2003, when the then Labour controlled city became one of the country’s first councils to embrace devolution.
Critics believe the change would put Birmingham out of step with Prime Minister David Cameron’s Big Society initiative, which is based on devolving decision making and powers to local communities.
Since they were established the constituency committees have struggled to live within their budgets, which have already been cut back.
With a total spending power of £98.5 million, the committees have suffered real terms budget reductions of about 15 per cent since 2004.
Although the city’s controlling Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition says it has not decided what to do and is inviting genuine consultation, the council’s chief officers are warning that devolution as it stands is not sustainable and that “urgent reform” is required.
The financial strains faced by the constituency committees are likely to get worse as the government’s public spending programme begins to be felt. Last year the committees overspent by £3 million and are struggling to deliver efficiency savings this year.
Opposition Labour group leader Sir Albert Bore, who pushed through the devolution and localisation programme in 2003 when he was council leader, insists that removing powers from constituency committees is only partly linked to saving money. He believes the idea is being pushed forward by Conservative councillors who opposed Labour’s devolution programme when it was first proposed.
Sir Albert (Lab Ladywood) said: “This is exactly what I expected would happen when the Conservatives got into power. These proposals will effectively mean abandoning the devolution agenda in Birmingham.
