Free parking on Sundays and evenings in Leeds could be scrapped. The council will decide today if to introduce charges which it's thought would generate an extra 2 hundred thousand pounds a year. Leeds is currently one of only 3 cities offering free off peak parking.
A charity that works with some of the poorest people in Leeds says it is worried that a further £55m of budget cuts at Leeds City Council will affect some of the most needy people in the city's communities. Mark Law from Barca says they will hit low earners and lone parents, among others.
The leader of Leeds City Council says this year's budget is the hardest one he was worked on. Councillor Keith Wakefield says some of the decisions about reducing services to find £55m of savings would have been previously unthinkable.
Leeds City Council says it needs to find an extra 55 million pounds worth of savings over the next 12 months. Some services could be cut back and charges for using others could be increased as officials try to balance their budget. James Webster's been looking at the figures.
Leeds City Council will discuss details of its budget for the next financial year at a meeting on Friday 15 February before it is approved later in the month. Current proposals to help find a further £54.9m of savings include:
The council says its decisions have been influenced by a survey of 2000 people who called for culture and leisure services to be cut the most. Those questioned wanted children's services to be protected and said parking and leisure centre prices could generate more income.
– Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Keith WakefieldThis has been by far the hardest budget to set in my time on the council and we want to be up front with people about the scale of the challenge we are facing and what these changes will mean. Making decisions which we know will be unpopular over price increases and budget cuts is not something any of us wanted to make, but the position is now so difficult we have had no choice but to look at areas we had previously avoided.
Leeds City Council's leader has warned of painful decisions trying to find a further £55m of budget cuts over the next financial year. Councillor Keith Wakefield says the key theme of spending for 2013/14 will be "protecting essential services by making painful decisions we can no longer avoid."
In the two years since the government began its public spending review Leeds City Council has found £145m of savings. During the next financial year £54.9m extra has to be saved from the budget. 334 full time jobs will go and other proposals include service reductions and extra charges.
– Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Keith WakefieldAgain this year the statistics show that Leeds has been hit harder than all the other core cities except one in terms of funding from the government. As a result in order to do all we can to protect essential services we have had to look at making decisions which previously we would have considered unthinkable. We are doing all we can to keep the impact of these changes to a minimum, but at the same time we also have a firm commitment to growth, embracing new ideas and working together to deliver a strong future for Leeds.
Leeds City Council has paid out more than £600,000 compensation claims caused by potholes in the last five years. More than 1,600 claims were lodged during that time - but only a fraction have actually been settled.
Last year, 355 claims were made by drivers for personal injury claims or car repairs - but only 55 have been settled. In 2010, one injury claim attracted more than twenty six thousand pounds.
Leeds City Council is aiming to make homes warmer and cheaper to run. Residents can apply for loans and grants for eco-home makeovers
Read the full storyLeeds City Council is trialling a festive shutdown of buildings that are in low or no demand over the Christmas period as one of the ways of looking to save money. Non-essential services will be closed so as to reduce energy and building costs from midnight 23 December to midnight 1 January 2013.
Services with high demand over this period - refuse collection, street cleansing and traffic management - will not be closed Child protection remains a priority and there will be sufficient social work staff in place to deal with all enquiries and new referrals
Similarly the majority of Adult Social Care services will also remain open. a more detailed list of affected services in your area visit www.leeds.gov.ukand click through to the specific service page.
The Leader of Leeds City Council has warned of having to make challenging decisions. The council needs to save £51.3 million next year.
Read the full story
