Hall Green council staff facing redundancy
Dec 29 2009 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Mail
JOBS are to be axed at Birmingham community libraries, swimming pools and sports centres to stem a £1.8 million cash crisis.
Councillors running Hall Green Constituency Committee approved an emergency cuts package after the budget to run local services crashed into the red.
Savings identified at a special meeting of the Liberal Democrat-run committee included:
* Cutting staff numbers in libraries during off-peak periods.
* Getting rid of management jobs at leisure centres.
* Reducing public swimming sessions at Moseley Baths.
* Increasing charges to schools for swimming.
Other cutbacks will involve closing a creche at Moseley School sports centre, reducing reception cover at Chamberlain Health and Fitness Centre and moving Sparkhill neighbourhood office into the Sparkhill library.
Staff at Sparkhill swimming baths, which has been closed for a year, are being given three months to find another job at the council or face redundancy.
Committee vice-chairman Coun Martin Mullaney insisted customers would notice no difference in the quality of services.
Coun Mullaney, who is also the council’s leisure, sport and culture boss, said: “We will keep libraries at the same opening times as they are now and it is not as if we are closing swimming baths.
“Members of the public will still be able to use them.
“Sparkhill swimming baths have been closed for a year but we still have staff and we are paying their wages.
“What we are saying is ‘you have a time limit to find another job or, unfortunately, you will be made redundant’.
“Birmingham council tax payers will be questioning why we are keeping people in a job at a swimming pool that is shut. It is absolutely crazy.”
The exact number of jobs to go will depend on the outcome of consultation between the council and trade unions.
Coun Mullaney (Lib Dem, Moseley & Kings Heath) blamed a combination of problems including loss of income from the closure of Sparkhill baths and high maintenance costs of looking after old community centre buildings.
But the council’s deputy Labour group leader, Coun Ian Ward, said the cuts had been brought about by “financial incompetence”.
Coun Ward (Lab Shard End) added: “Hall Green has been overspending for years and they are now in a perilous position where they are having to cut jobs in leisure services.”
