County council's plea over funding cuts

COUNTY councillors of all parties have formed a united front to fight for a better deal for Hampshire.

They will send a cross-party letter urging Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles to stop cutting the authoritys funding.

Councillors fear further cuts could damage frontline services, including safeguarding some of the countys most vulnerable children and adults.

The authority has lost 51 per cent of its Government funding in the last six years.

As previously reported, library funding has been slashed, neighbourhood wardens axed, bus subsidies removed and hundreds of council jobs lost.

Funding has also been stopped for gardening and handyman services at sheltered accommodation and frail pensioners homes.

Hampshire is bracing itself for a further 100m in cuts that are likely to come into effect after 2017.

The letter to Mr Pickles comes after a motion put forward at the last full council meeting in Winchester by Basingstoke Labour councillors Criss Connor and Jane Frankum when the authority agreed its 2015/16 budget.

It will say that the council will find it difficult to take the same level of cuts in the next parliament as it has already made most of the cuts possible.

They say further cuts could put services at risk, including adult care and childrens services.

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County council's plea over funding cuts