Demonstrations are happening in Coventry and Warwickshire as people wait to find out which public services and jobs will be hit this year because of government cutbacks.
Coventry City and Warwickshire County Councils are meeting to approve their budgets for the next financial year, which when put together will see over £50 million slashed from current funding levels.
In Warwickshire, there are fears that support for young people via youth clubs and other projects could be all but removed.
It would potentially mean the closure of Kenilworth Youth Centre, where 16-year old Lawrie Shanks is a regular visitor:
“If it’s not open, we’ll go to Subway and hang outside there – until the police come along and move us on.”
“There’s nowhere else to go in Kenilworth – the youth centre’s where we go to have fun and stay warm in the winter time.”
Her mum Vicky added: “Far from decreasing the youth service, I think they should be increasing it – sometimes you can’t talk to your parents, and it worries me a lot this outlet for kids could go.”
Libraries are also set to have their funding reduced in Warwickshire next year, with the county council outlining plans to shut up to 16 of their current 34 sites.
Councillors will meet to decide whether to back proposals at 10am.
In Coventry, a £10 million package of savings will be discussed – including a move to spend more maintaining the city’s highways and a redevelopment of Broadgate in time for the 2012 Olympics.
Nearly 3,000 jobs stand to be lost across the two councils between now and 2014 as a result of budget cuts.
A protest will be taking place outside Coventry’s Council House on Earl Street from 12:30pm this lunchtime and from 2pm the city’s council meeting will be streamed live here.
Call me cynical but it looks to me as if they're only concerned with the loss of their own jobs and not the loss of services so will get little sympathy from the general public
