Harrow Council announces library hours cut plan

Reducing the opening hours at the borough's libraries to save cash is just one belt-tightening move planned by Harrow Council in its first credit crunch-hit budget.

The Conservative administration is proposing to trim expenditure to the tune of £4.8 milion across all departments, its draft spending plans for 2009/10 show.

Savings of £1.25m are expected through an increase in parking camera fines, while shortening library opening hours will cut costs by £102,000 and a 'review' of the highways department is anticipated to shave £133,000 off expenditure.

More than half a million pounds of foreseen savings is attributed to unspecified projects identified by Capita, the private company contracted several years ago to help cut costs.
Elsewhere, the council wants to get rid of a £200,000 from a sum set aside to employ external barristers, as well as sparing £203,000 by merging its the early years and community services functions.

What Harrow Council will be spending taxpayer money on, however, includes the provision of social care - to the tune of £670,000 - and just shy of £250,000 for extended schools, whereby pre- and post-school activities are provided to the local community.

The Tory-controlled authority has pencilled in forking out £267,000 towards the construction and running costs of three Neighbourhood Resource Centres, which will host day centres for residents with learning disabilities.

Providing waste collection and recycling services will be an anticipated £800,000, less a rebate of £139,000 for the high rate of composting the borough achieves. Two hundred thousand pounds will be invested into road maintenance.

A policy of setting aside £1m per year to build up a £5m reserve was revised so annual deposits will be just £500,000.

Harrow Council's proposed total revenue budget for April 2009 to March 2010 is £168.6m. Its capital budget is anticipated to be £56m, of which the authority has to find £32m (entirely by borrowing) and the remaining coming from external funding, primarily the Transport for London and the Department for Children's, Schools and Families.