Burngreave and the Cuts

The Council has begun releasing details of its budget cuts for April onwards. After 2 years of Government cuts, the coming financial year will see even bigger changes to services funded through the Council. The impact on Burngreave will be huge.

The Council will make decisions on the proposals below in the next month, as it prepares to agree its budget on 1st March.

Childcare and Early Years cuts

The Council announced a £6.8 million government cut in the Early Intervention Grant, £3.5 million of this is to be cut from Early Years. This includes funding for Children’s Centres and childcare organisations. Under current proposals, Burngreave’s three voluntary sector providers, Watoto, Ellesmere Children’s Centre and Fir Vale Pre-School, would lose their grant from the Council, which would mean cuts in staff and services at the centres. Burngreave Children's Centre's childcare provision for under 2 year olds could be affected. Proposals are due to go to the Council's Cabinet on 27th February.

Young people

Young people in Burngreave will be seriously affected by the cuts. Burngreave’s four Study Support groups will no longer be funded from April and risk closure. Around 400 young people attend these groups each week and get better school grades as a result.

Activity Sheffield propose to cut all staff at Pitsmoor Adventure Playground. It currently opens 5 days a week and all holidays for under 15 year olds. It's proposed that any equipment that was made on site at the Playground will be removed, such as the big slide and zip wire, and the playground will be left open and unsupervised to be maintained by the Parks department.

All staff will be cut at Verdon Recreation Centre, as part of the proposals for Activity Sheffield. The building would be handed to the Council’s Community Buildings Team to administer room rentals. Activity Sheffield’s remaining staff will be spread thinly across the city. They will be looking for local groups to apply for money so they can deliver sports and physical activities.

There will be a further blow to young people with the end of ‘Kids Can Do’ funding, which paid for additional activities in the area. Burngreave will lose just under £50,000.

Also in Burngreave, the end of some Government grants for gang prevention will probably result in the end of the Vestry Hall project, which currently supports young men to improve their lives.

Parks

Maintenance of parks will be cut by over £1million, which will mean reductions in the amount of time spent on looking after parks and green spaces. Bowling Greens will no longer be maintained directly by the Council. Instead, bowling clubs have been asked to manage their own greens with a grant, which will not cover all the costs. This will be a particular problem for small clubs whose members don’t generate enough in fees to cover all the costs.

Libraries

The Council is proposing that 14 of the city's 27 community libraries are to close, and is calling on organisations to come forward to manage them. No details have been released about which libraries they have in mind for closure but Burngreave is particularly at risk as one of the smaller libraries in Sheffield.

Community Assembly

Alongside the democratic function that will be lost in the area, such as regular public meetings, Burngreave will lose a significant amount of money from what is called the ‘discretionary budget’. This has funded a range of local projects, such as the Festivals, the Messenger, local network meetings, activities for young people as well as environmental improvements. Consultation on the future of Community Assemblies ends on 28th January.

Grant Aid and advice services

Voluntary organisations will be affected by a 7.5% cut to the Grant Aid budget. The cut will not be evenly spread, as some projects will be cut more than others. In Burngreave, organisations providing advice will be affected. Advice Services, currently provided by Pitsmoor CAB, Yemeni Community Association and Pakistan Advice and Community Association are currently under review along with advice services across the city, and are due to change by September. There are additional cuts to advice work resources included in the Early Years Services.

Dementia Centre

Norbury Dementia Centre is due to be closed in March. The official consultation process is due to finish on 31st January.

The impact on Burngreave

It’s unlikely that any group or service in Burngreave will be left unaffected by these cuts. In fact, some provision that has taken decades to develop will be swept away overnight from the 1st April. The consequences will be very grave for our area.