‘Double whammy’ over cuts

6:30am Tuesday 8th February 2011

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    DALES communities face a “double whammy” from the spending cuts, a charity boss says.

    David Sharrod, director of the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, said residents of the Dales faced losing services while having to deal with the pressures of the economic downturn.

    Mr Sharrod spoke out after he heard that the charity’s funding from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority would be reduced next year and end by 2013.

    He said: “Obviously, this will place additional pressure on our ability to undertake our charitable work in and around the Dales, which we believe represents great value for money.

    “We are much more concerned about the potential effects of current events on the Dales and local communities. They face the double whammy of losing services and support whilst trying to cope with
    the great financial pressures of the current economic downturn.”

    A consultation about the authority’s cuts proposal has been launched.

    Members last week agreed a draft budget that contains a raft of proposals, including 15 voluntary and three compulsory redundancies, the scrapping of 12 work programmes and a reorganisation of the
    authority’s structure.

    The authority is facing a cut in its Government grant of £1.43m – 25.3 per cent – over the next four years.

    Authority chairman Carl Lis said: “This reduction in our budget has meant that we have had to rethink drastically our role now and in the immediate future.

    “Unfortunately, it will mean staff redundancies and the scrapping of some of the work we do so that we can continue to provide our key services to a high standard.”

    Officials say all comments received by 10am on March 10 will be taken into account before the final financial decisions are taken by authority members on March 29.

    For more details and to make comments, visit yorkshiredales.org.uk/budgetconsultation

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