Community leader protests halted reduction to youth services but many cuts still to come

By Aidan White

A sign welcoming visitors to Newham — Photo by The Sketxh on Unsplash

Plans by cash-strapped Newham Council to slash spending on support for thousands of young people in the Borough have been revised following protests from community leaders.

As Newham Voices went to press (February 28th) the Council was meeting to sign off on a new budget which includes extensive cuts, but which restores a proposed £300,000 cut in spending on youth services over the coming two years.

However, a heavy burden of cuts is still on the way – with almost every area of Council services feeling the pinch of savings amounting to more than £22 million as the Council aims to meet its legal obligations to come up with a balanced budget.

Among the cuts proposed are a grant to the Theatre Royal of £250,000, the end of the community grants programme of £160,000, and a budget review of communications, marketing and policy that will trim the existing costs by more than £600,000.

The action to safeguard community support for youth work is a victory for voluntary sector campaigners who sent a letter on 19 February warning the Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and Council Chief Executive Abi Gbago that proposals to cut support for their work were “distressing to us and the young people we serve” and warned they would “significantly impact our services to young people.”

The letter came from seven community groups – Bonny Downs, Community Association, West Silvertown Foundation, Fight for Peace, Ambitious Aspire Achieve, the Renewal Programme, Rights and Equalities in Newham, and Royal Docks Learning and Activity Centre.

The groups said their work currently involves working with more than 3,700 young people, including those with special needs, and is “vital for our community, providing essential support and opportunities for our youth.”

Peter Laing, Chief Executive of the Renewal Programme based in East Ham said that the letter was not intended to be adversarial.

“This is not a story about council bashing,” he said. “I think that things are very difficult financially for the local authority and many other organisations at the moment. This is a good news story and we are very happy that the Council has reiterated its continuing support for work supporting young people.”

He said that a meeting between all the groups involved and the Mayor was scheduled for the coming weeks. “We are very hopeful that the budget will be changed at the Council meeting,” he said, “but we have not yet had official confirmation.”

The final budget seeks to address a deficit and deepening financial crisis, but even it will protect essential frontline services according to the Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz.

In her weekly newsletter she says the budget will pump £17.5m into temporary accommodation in the face of an escalating housing crisis “because more and more people are being made homeless.”

There will also be more support for adults and children’s social care and a £5.4m boost for Special Educational Needs.

To strengthen incomes she says: “We’ve looked at all the Council’s property assets and identified some we can dispose of to boost the Council’s income for core services to residents as well. Our budget plans in the coming year will continue to meet those things that matter.”

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