Help Save Braunstone’s Community Services From Sir Peter’s Tory Policies

All public services are vital, therefore any attempt to cut such services must be opposed by our local political representatives. However with our Labour Council currently intent on running the city into the ground by carrying through Tory cuts, it seems that only the two Councillors of the recently launched group, Leicester Independent Councillors Against Cuts, seem willing to stand up for the public good.

Yesterday, Sir Peter’s Council sold off a variety of Council properties at an auction at the race course… with sales including old peoples care homes, a venue formerly used to care for the disabled, and a former youth centre. If this were not enough, just the day before we were treated to the Leicester Mercury’s all too typical “Sir Peter puff piece” which outlined all the lovely ways that Uncle Peter would be spending the Council’s capital funds to help us. Only passing mention was made to the fact that the amount of our money being spent was £27 million less than last year — a drastic cut in the budget of more than a third.

Dressing up public sector cuts with positive spin about helping local communities, as Labour are prone to do, is the ultimate sign of political cowardice. But one expects little from mainstream politicians, be they Labour or UKIP – the latter being the party who, in 2012, even organized a pro-cuts rally of a few hundred people in London, the day after 0.5 million members of the public protested against cuts).

Here in Leicester, Sir Peter’s foot-soldiers now refer to their cuts as “Transforming Neighbourhood Services.” “Significant cuts in government funding” we are told, means the Council wants “to work with communities to make changes now, before it becomes critical.” “We want to work with you to make these services fit for the future.” But if neighbourhood services are to fit for the future it is essential that they receive continued and growing levels of financial support from our Council; and if that means that our Councillors have to spend Council reserves to do so, and to also actively oppose the Government to get the necessary money from the super-rich to prevent service provision becoming a “critical” issue then so be it!

On Monday this week Council officials had the cheek to invite local Locality representative Naomi Diamond to support their transformation — that is, gutting – of Leicester’s community services (for an examination of Locality’s problematic role in this process read “The Need to Fight For Publicly Funded Local Services”). At this meeting, held at the Brite Centre on Braunstone, the Council was offering up five local buildings as community assets to would-be service providers cut free from Council support; a process which entails letting the public take on the operating costs of running buildings and organizations that should (and most definitely need to) be funded by the Council.  In essence the Council are seeking to sack trained and dedicated community support workers and offload Braunstone Grove and Braunstone Oak Centre, Cort Crescent Community Centre, Winstanley Community Centre and Newfoundpool Community Centre onto an army of volunteers. This representing yet another step towards the privatisation of public services, all carried out in the name of “community empowerment!”

Despite being brought in to Braunstone to help grease the wheels of the Council’s very contentious “Transforming Services” process Naomi Diamond seemed to recognize the problems inherent contradictions in her own work. Thus when explaining a slide during her presentation, which was titled “Local Authority Asset Rationalization,” she explained: “Basically it is cost cutting.” Here she was referring to one of the “main drivers” of the rationalization policy, adding, that the “other driver is to try to deliver better services.” Of course, providing improved services will less money is hard to sell to anyone, because it is patent nonsense. This is why she then felt compelled to mumble, that the program of changes should “not just be about things that will save us money, I hope.”

Mrs Diamond also acknowledged that the Council was “under pressure” to push through this transfer process as quickly as possible, and, as a sign of goodwill, she supported the idea raised by others at the meeting that groups should have more time to prepare full business proposals for their bids. This bright idea was, however, quickly shot down by the Council representatives, who seemed keen to palm off the running of their properties to others as quickly as possible. Here, it is important to point out that such a short time frame for putting forward viable bids (a complex process) is obviously not such a hindrance to larger more businesslike national groups who might be positioning themselves to take over the running of Braunstone’s community centres.

Finally, it is significant that the Council’s own consultation reports seem resigned to the fact that they won’t be getting suitable bids for three of the community centres on offer. Thus, in one case, they are even considering demolishing a property it before bidding has even begun?! Consequently, with regard to the future of Cort Crescent Community Centre, the Council writes: “Make the building available for asset transfer, for community groups in the first instance. If this is unsuccessful, the building will be demolished to build affordable housing.” (When the Council says “affordable” they usually mean unaffordable to most of us.)

Furthermore, both Winstanley Community Centre and the Newfoundpool Community Centre seem to face a similarly precarious future, with the Council noting: “If we cannot achieve the transfer, we will try to sell the building[s] and investigate alternative methods of disposal for the building[s].”

Of course, given the Council’s contemptible failure to oppose cuts, it is totally understandable that local community groups would attempt to take on the running of Braunstone’s community centres as a matter of desperation. However, ultimately taking on the burden of running such services will not serve to improve vital community provision in the city. Instead, local communities across the city must strive to come together to fight for an alternative to such attacks on all the public services that we all know and love (many of which have sadly already been destroyed in recent years).

On Braunstone, for instance, local anti-cuts Councillor Wayne Naylor can help unite such protests for the public good. And at the forthcoming meeting on Monday night at the Brite Centre (7-8pm) he will no doubt do his best to show that an alternative to cuts is not only necessary but possible.

Likewise, Councillor Naylor’s fellow anti-cuts campaigner Barbara Potter will also be doing her best to expose the lies of Sir Peter and his office of mini-mayors. All the more so because she has recently announced that she will standing against Sir Peter in the forthcoming elections, promising that if she is elected that the first thing she will do is to call for a public referendum to let the people of Leicester finally have the chance to decide if they even want a city Mayor who is vested with so much undemocratic power.