Manchester libraries and toilets to go as spending slashed | Metro.co.uk

Rubbish collections in Manchester are to become fortnightly and streets will not be cleaned between midnight and 6am.

All public conveniences except one face closure and 2,000 job losses have been confirmed as the council seeks savings of 25 per cent.

The cuts were revealed yesterday as the authority outlined its proposed budget for 2011/12.

Three leisure centres, two swimming pools and five libraries will be closed as amenities are culled.

The operation of all the council’s youth centres will be transferred to external partners and will close if no one steps in.

The operation of Sure Start centres will be also be transferred.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Labour-run Manchester City Council, said: ‘Putting this budget together has involved the most difficult, and in many ways most unpalatable, process I have been involved in since I was first elected to the council.

‘Manchester is the fourth most deprived local authority area in the country but is among the top five hardest hit local authorities.’

So far 100 of the 370 local councils in England have announced their spending plans for the next year with many facing difficult decisions.

Children’s services are being cut by a fifth in Stoke-on-Trent while 700 jobs face the axe.

In East Sussex yesterday the council approved £37million of cuts for next year.

Birmingham City Council, one of Britain’s biggest, is proposing to cut its workforce by a third.

Union activists have held demonstrations outside Surrey County Council offices, where Unison says the £200million proposed cuts would ‘slash services’.

Wakefield council said it would axe a tenth of its workforce, with some compulsory redundancies, to save £67million by 2015.

via metro.co.uk