ONCE again the council, at its cabinet meeting in September, agreed to continue to slash spending on a whole raft of local, non statutory services.


As a consequence we will face massive reductions in many of the services which contribute so much to the quality of life of the residents of St Helens.


People who enjoy our parks and open spaces, people with health needs, people who make use of our libraries, children with special educational needs, young people who struggle to find things to do, parents and pupils who need help to cross our roads on their way to school are all affected.


The World Glass and families who enjoy the entertainment in the town centre will see a major deterioration in their services and facilities because of these cuts.


In the meantime the council will plough on with – and I quote from the cabinet report – “its long term aspirations of Growth and Care and Health integration”, apparently without any regard to the balance between long term planning and the crisis facing the town now. 


The council has millions in reserves yet we face the decimation of our services.


When were the public of St Helens asked for their views on what the priorities were for spending our money? 


The councillors were all elected to provide us with the services we want (none of them sought election on the back of a promise to slash local services as far as I am aware).


But we have never been given the chance to consider which services we think are most valued.


If we were asked it may be that a majority would support the current council priorities and agree that the services targeted for cuts are the ones which should go...but we don’t know (and neither does the council ) because we have not been asked.


We know that the council faces damaging reductions in government funding as a result of this austerity programme, but the fact of austerity makes it even more important that we, the public, are fully consulted about the decisions the council intends to consider.


Peter Yates, 
West Park