Nottingham: Fears over the impact of massive council cuts

As well as job cuts, a large number of services are facing cuts or reviews

Organisations and residents have expressed their fears over imminent severe cuts to city council services.

Nottingham City Council approved a controversial budget for the next financial year at a meeting on Monday.

The plans for the year include cuts to jobs, social care and youth services, along with a review of libraries and a council tax rise of almost 5%.

There will also be a reduction in contributions to the voluntary and charity sector.

The cuts have been approved to try to plug a predicted £53m budget gap in 2024 and follow the council's declaration of effective bankruptcy in November over an in-year £23m overspend.

The Labour-run authority insisted it had approved the package of cuts reluctantly at the demand of government-appointed commissioners brought in to help run the council.

Council leader David Mellen has blamed government funding cuts for the council financial crisis

Keiren Thompson founded the Helping Kids Achieve youth club in Bulwell and won the 2019 Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero award for his work helping young people.

He told the BBC a cut to the group's grant was giving him sleepless nights.

"You're going to see a rise in anti-social behaviour, a rise in knife crime, a rise in all sorts of youth violence," he said.

"We want to steer young people in the right direction but without the resources and the funding we can't make that happen."

The council is also looking to close or sell The Oaks and Cherry Trees care homes, in St Ann's and Bestwood respectively.

Nottingham Playhouse boss Stephanie Sirr warned cuts to cultural spending were a "false economy"

Claire Copeland, community care worker and Unison representative, says home closures would be devastating for residents.

"We know some people don't survive the move if they're very vulnerable, once their care home closes down," she said.

"The change of routine, the change of faces is so distressing for them.

"The people have been here so long… there's a lot of emotional attachment."

The city council's existing contributions to Nottingham's cultural sector will also cease.

Chief executive of the Nottingham Playhouse, Stephanie Sirr, described the savings as a "false economy".

"I think what the city council perhaps doesn't recognise to the degree it should is just how much money is generated for the city council directly or indirectly by having this incredible cultural offer which brings people from right across the Midlands and much further beyond," she said.

"Cutting something that actually helps fill those coffers is the wrong way to go."

James Willis runs a series of activities at the church each week, including community meals

James Willis, a youth group leader at Bestwood Park Church, said organisations like his already had to scrap for limited funding.

"It's very worrying for a place like Bestwood where there is already so little going on," he said.

"There are a lot of new houses coming up yet there are less and less services."

Sharon Cloonan, who has lived in Bestwood for 45 years, runs a cob shop and convenience store in Beckingham Road and fears the community will be particularly hard hit by the council's financial plight.

The 62-year-old said her council rent for the shop had recently tripled and thought the impact of council cuts and a council tax increase would eventually hit customers' outgoings and, in turn, her business.

"The food prices are going up as well. Everything is going up and obviously you have to pass the cost on to the customer. Some of the customers can't afford it," she said.

Labour council leader David Mellen has blamed government cuts to the authority's central funding for the council's financial crisis.

He said the authority's annual grant from the government fell from £132m in 2013 to £32m in 2024.

He said: "It's a huge cut. We have been warning there's a problem for many years and now it is coming home to roost."