Liverpool City Council cuts: Plan to axe 300 jobs

More than 300 jobs are to go at Liverpool City Council as it seeks to make £156m of savings over the next three years, it has announced.

The council is to cut £42m from adult services and £16m from children's services under its budget proposals.

A "significant number" of day centres and children's centres would close, as well as at least two leisure centres and up to half the libraries.

Funding for school crossing patrols will also be cut under the plans.

The council's chief executive Ged Fitzgerald said he was hoping community groups and other organisations would run some services affected by the cuts.

The authority said it was going to "work with schools" to see if they could fund lollipop patrols when funding is withdrawn.

Investments at some pelican crossings will also be pulled if the plans are approved.

Park Road Leisure Centre in Dingle and Everton Park Leisure Centre are earmarked for closure within the next three years as part of £4m cuts to the council's Lifestyles Centres budget.

The council will cut a further £500,000 from its annual spending on library services, in addition to a £1m annual saving agreed last year.

This could result in the closure of up to half the city's 19 libraries.

Mayor of Liverpool and city council leader Joe Anderson said the council had to make "some really tough decisions".

"Many of the proposals will result in some significant changes to services that people hold dear, but we need to start making those decisions now as the money simply isn't there to fund them in the future," he said.

"Every service will be impacted in some way by these savings and several hundred people employed by the council will face the prospect of losing their jobs."

He said the plans "protect the most vulnerable adults and children in our communities".

The latest budget cuts follows central government funding cuts of £173m over the last three years.