Brighton and Hove’s Conservative Councillors have set out how they would use an additional £510,000 given to the Council by Government.
The Conservatives are proposing to use the money to reverse hundreds of thousands of pounds in cuts, protect jobs, and prevent flooding.
Plans put forward as part of the Conservatives’ amendments to Labour’s budget include using this extra funding to:
- Keep the Community Grants programme, that Labour is scrapping, with £200,000 of funding
- Reverse Labour’s £87,000 cuts to community transport, shopmobility and the Disability Advice Centre
- Halt plans to cut £58,000 from the 77 and 79 bus services
- Spend £65,000 on gully clearances and flood prevention
- Uphold democracy by using £100,000 towards support for councillors from the three largest groups, reversing 3FTE job loses
Cllr Alistair McNair, Leader of the Conservative Group said “With so much of Labour’s budget being job loses and brutal cuts to front line services there has been little room for us to amend it. This additional £510,000, however, allows us to seriously look at reversing some of the worse aspects within Labour’s budget and add extra investment in protecting people’s homes from flooding.
“Community grants allow fantastic local community groups to receive vital boosts to their funding, keeping almost two thirds of this pot of money will be welcome news to these organisations.
“The 77 and 79 bus services that Labour would see cut provide cheap and easy access to the downs from the city during the holidays for families. It gives them a chance to get out of a busy polluted city and into the countryside to enjoy all of the physical and mental health benefits of our wonderful South Downs National Park.
“Reversing cuts to community transport, shopmobility and the Disability Advice Centre speaks for itself. These are cuts hitting the most vulnerable in our city, without even a consultation or any engagement. It is shameful, it should be stopped, and we in the Conservative Group have shown how it can be done.”
