SWINGEING cuts are being lined up by Kirklees Council.

Jobs will be axed and many public services and leisure facilities could be hit as the council prepares to announce its budget for 2012/13.

Officials claim £64m needs to be shaved off the council’s balance sheets by 2015 if it is to survive what is being described as the “most challenging financial circumstances in living memory”.

They have now unveiled details of the proposals so that the public can have their say before a round of detailed budget meetings next month.

All of the political parties on the council are expected to come up with their own proposals and views in the coming weeks.

Staffing – which accounts for 40% of the Council’s budget – will bear the brunt of the cuts, although details of job losses have not been revealed

Chief Executive Adrian Lythgo said staff cuts are inevitable because of the scale of the savings needed.

But the axe will also fall on a number of services including glass collection, bulky waste, swimming pools, museums, wardens, public toilets, public rights of way and several festivals.

Mr Lythgo said: “Some of the plans are already well known, while others have not yet been made public.

“As a council, we are on schedule to make around £27m in savings under our Innovation and Efficiency savings, but we have been clear from the start that all local government is facing its most challenging financial circumstances in living memory.

“We need to reduce our overall budget by £64m, and it is vital that local people understand the impact that savings on this scale will mean for Kirklees.

“There are other front line service proposals where new approaches are designed to do more with less, which can make substantial savings, but there are also inevitable service cuts which will have an impact on local people.

“These are explained in the directorate overviews, but we would still like people to comment further.”

The final budget will be set at a meeting on February 22.

All the proposals have been published online to give people the chance to have their say before decisions are made.

Spending plans for all four directorates – covering children and young people, wellbeing and communities including adult social care, place including streetscene, housing and regeneration, and resources covering libraries and benefits services – are available in detail.

In 2011/12, the Council’s budget – including schools – totalled £932 million.

More than two thirds of funding – £651m – came from Government grants allocated directly to the council.

Council tax raised just £155m, while external funding from public bodies, as well as fees and charges, accounted for the balance.

By 2015, Kirklees Council will still be spending a budget of £924 million.

Holme Valley North councillor Terry Lyons expressed concern about the closure of public toilets such as those in Honley.

Clr Lyons said: “I think it’s wrong. It’s purely cost cutting and I oppose its closure, like I do the possible closure of Honley Library.

“It’s important to keep public toilets open even if they’re just for walkers, tourists or young mothers who might want to take their child in and change them.

“If they have to close them they should be mothballed rather than sold off so we have an opportunity to reopen them when the financial climate improves.”

A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “During these difficult times the council has to explore all opportunities to save money whilst protecting vital services.

“We are exploring the possibility of closing down unattended public toilets as this would allow us to protect the budgets of other services, but no decisions have been made and the matter is due for further discussion.”

Some of the former public loos have been given a new lease of life as business premises.

MUSEUMS

MORE THAN £100,000 could be cut from the council’s budget if museum opening times and staffing numbers are reduced.

A further £116,000 and a huge chunk of capital will also be freed up if plans to close Red House Museum (below) in Gomersal go ahead.

Museums and gallery sites are currently open seven days a week.

Under the proposals all venues will close one day a week and three sites two days a week.

They will also shut early during winter months while Oakwell Hall House and Red House Museum may remain closed on weekdays over the winter period.

It is estimated the move will see the loss of 30,000 visits out of a total of 300,000 general visitors.

Up to 2,000 visits from school children could also be lost.

Staffing reductions are also being proposed across all museum and gallery sites to free up £60,000 in 2012 and £120,000 in 2013.

The closure of Red House at the end of September 2012 is also being floated to generate a full year effect saving of £116,000.

The site – which includes period gardens, a Bronte gallery and Spen Valley local history exhibition – had 28,602 visitors last year.

RECYCLING

AXING glass collections and free bulky item pick-ups could save the council £424,000 this year.

Plans to stop the four-weekly kerbside collection of glass will cut costs by £234,000.

But officers have warned that removal of the service will increase grey bin waste and reduce the council’s current recycling rate of 34% by 2.5%.

It plans to counteract this by providing more bottle banks within the community.

The proposals could also introduce charges for bulky item collections which are currently offered for free.

Charges of £25 for the first three bulky items and £25 per electrical item are being proposed.

The move – which would save the council £190,000 a year – has raised concerns about a possible increase in fly-tipping and complaints about waste dumped in gardens.

There are also plans from 2013/14 to start charging £25 for the replacement of domestic bins.

This will save the council a further £150,000 a year.

WARDENS

UNIFORMED staff including dog wardens, environmental enforcement assistants, town centre rangers and park wardens could be merged to form generic ranger and enforcement teams.

If agreed, the move will save the council £94,000 a year.

The new role would offer existing community patrols on a more targeted and less frequent basis in some areas instead.

Their focus would be on helping to make neighbourhoods cleaner and greener.

Seasonal park staff are also to be reduced as part of the proposals.

A total of 20 out of 38 Kirklees parks currently have a staff presence in summer.

Evening and weekend presence in all but the five major parks will be removed under the plans.

However, a review of the community ranger service may provide some cover for this service.

Nightlife marshals who patrol streets in Huddersfield town centre and Batley’s ‘golden mile’ after dark are also to be axed, saving £58,000 a year.

The teams – which work in pairs to help reduce anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related crime – work on Friday and Saturday nights between the hours of 10pm and 4am.

Their patrols – which in Huddersfield include Cross Church Street, King Street and Zetland Street – will be replaced by Police Community Support Officers who will cover the areas at key times.

RIGHTS OF WAY

ONLY vital maintenance work will be carried out to public rights of way from April 2012.

The service is being cut back to a ‘minimal reactive’ approach as part of measures to save the council £200,000 this year.

Pathways and signs will be among the areas affected.

There will also be staff cuts to reduce expenditure.

Money will also be saved on town centre grounds.

Reducing the number of operations undertaken in landscape maintenance will have an effect on the appearance of Huddersfield, Batley and Dewsbury town centres.

It will shave £61,000 off the bill.

Officers recognise standards of presentation will fall below those we have come to accept as the norm.

POOLS

SWIMMING pool opening hours could be scaled back to save the council £31,000 a year.

Pools across Kirklees could open later or shut earlier to help reduce costs.

Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) – which runs leisure sites across the area – has been asked to look at the current swimming programmes to minimise the impact where possible.

The free summer swimming programme for young people is also facing the axe.

The scheme is being reviewed to help save £41,000 in 2013.

It could be replaced by a money-making initiative instead.

The council will be working with KAL to also find ways of subsidising those young people with the greatest need.

The move comes after free swimming for under 16s ended last year.

Plans to reduce funding for the Kirklees Youth Games are also being considered.

The scheme, which delivers activities for young people and those with disabilities in the run-up to the Olympics, will be reduced after the national sporting event ends this year.

It will save £5,000 this year and £10,000 in 2013.

FESTIVALS

ENTERTAINMENT has been cut from the budget to save money in 2012.

Events including Heckmondwike’s Bounce ’n Bump has been axed this year.

There are also plans from 2013 to cancel Holmfirth Food and Drink Festival, the World Together event in Dewsbury and funding for Yorkshire Day at Oakwell Hall.

Less money will also be available for other events including Thornhill Lanterns, Dewsbury On Sea and Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival.

The move is estimated to save the Council £16,000 in 2012 and £59,000 in 2013.

Programmes funded by the corporate priorities budget such as Spirit, the Festival of Light and Concerts in the Park will be unaffected.

Funding for brass band concerts in Kirklees parks is also to be stopped, saving £10,000.

Around 24 concerts by local brass bands and other acoustic groups will be affected.

Extra support will be offered for voluntary groups wanting to organise their own park concerts.

TOILETS

SPENDING cuts will hit spending a penny.

That’s because Kirklees Council has earmarked all ‘unattended’ public toilets for closure as part of cuts to the council’s next annual budget. It hopes to save £75,000.

Huddersfield currently has seven such public loos: at Woodhead Road, Holme; Holmfirth Bus Station; Moorbottom, Honley; Westbourne Road, Marsh; Holmfirth Road, New Mill; and Carr Lane, Slaithwaite.

Councillors will decide whether to pass the budget for 2012/13 at its full council meeting on February 22.

The latest cuts could leave townsfolk without a place to spend a penny as many public conveniences have already been closed down and sold off in the last few years.

The underground toilets in Huddersfield’s Market Place shut several years ago, along with the public loos in many villages, including Longwood, Golcar, Linthwaite, Almondbury, Newsome and Paddock.

A public convenience in Newsome Road, Newsome, was bought by photographer Andy Sutcliffe and converted into an office and studio.

In October the conveniences opposite Titanic Mills at Manchester Road, Linthwaite, were put up for sale.

Estate agents Mark Brearley invited offers of around £15,000 for the 22-square metre property.