Halton Council approves cuts to services to save £6.88m

Mr Wharton (standing) told councillors that funding authorities was "not a priority for this government"

A council has approved the closure of two children's day centres and a school meals service in a bid to save £6.88m over three years.

Halton councillors also unanimously backed the scrapping of funding for a learning disability nursing team and a rise in the price of meals-on-wheels.

The Labour-led council's leader Mike Wharton said funding authorities was "not a priority for this government".

The government said it was "investing millions" in supporting services.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council approved a number of changes at a 15-minute meeting at Runcorn Town Hall on Wednesday to help deal with a £25m funding deficit, which included:

• Closing Ditton and Warrington Road Daycare Centres on 31 August

• No longer delivering the school meals service after two years

• Increasing the price of meals-on-wheels services

• Selling Inglefield Children's Centre in Runcorn with the intention of buying two bungalows instead

• Reducing the opening hours of children's centres and reviewing the operation of Windmill Hill Children's Centre

• Scrapping funding for the Learning Disability Nursing Team

• Franchising out the concourse bars at the DCBL Stadium to an external operator

• Reducing area forum grants to community projects for one year to £50,000

Mr Wharton said the council was facing its most significant funding challenges "in its history" and warned that the public would "feel the impact" of the cuts.

He blamed the government's record on council funding as well as recent turmoil in Downing Street for the issues the council was facing and said it was "not surprising that providing the necessary funding for the essential public services which councils deliver is clearly not a priority for this government".

"In fact, it never has been," he added.

He also apologised "unreservedly" for the way the news of the closures was broken online before staff could be briefed.

"I've asked the chief executive to work with the senior management team to understand what went wrong and learn lessons," he said.

"We are a council that cares about our staff and the way this was handled fell way short of what I expect."

After the meeting concluded, Mr Wharton stayed behind to speak to members of the public who had raised concerns about the plans.

A Department for Education representative said the government recognises that families and early years providers "across the country are facing financial pressures and we are currently looking into options to improve the cost, flexibility, and availability of childcare, ensuring that any plans we bring forward focus on improving outcomes for children".

"We're investing millions in better training for staff working with pre-school children and have set out plans to help providers run their businesses more flexibly," they added.

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