Leaders at Lancashire County Council have invited senior members and officers from Wyre Council to a meeting to discuss the ongoing review of the county council’s buildings and how it delivers its services.
Just as in Lancaster, the Wyre area faces more cuts to services in response to Government funding reductions for councils, including proposed library closures and many young children’s services in favour of “Neighbourhood Centres” pooling more limited resources – but which may be some distance from the communities they are supposed to serve, adding to transport costs for families.
“As part of our response to the serious financial challenges we are facing, we have published a series of proposals setting out changes to how we deliver some of our local services,” notes County Councillor David Borrow, deputy leader of the county council with responsibility for Finance and Property. “By creating a network of neighbourhood centres, which would deliver multiple services tailored to meet the needs of the local community, we would be able to make significant savings by reducing the number of buildings we own and rent.
“We have invited senior elected members and officers from Wyre to meet with us so that we can discuss the impact of these proposals for communities across the district and to identify any opportunities for delivering services differently with partners in the area.
“We are part way through a 12-week public consultation process which will shape the final proposals which will go before our Cabinet in September. This meeting would play a role in ensuring we have fully considered all of the issues and would offer the opportunity to explore all of the possible options. We have had similar meetings with colleagues from other districts which have proved very helpful.”
• The public consultation on the Lancashire County Council property review will run until Sunday 14th August. People can find out more and respond to the consultation online by visiting “Changes to our buildings“. You can see overall map of proposed changes here. Alternatively, paper versions of the consultation document are available from libraries and children’s centres