TRANSPORT

A combination of a growing elderly population and the recession have placed pressure on the transport department's budget.

Next year the council is predicting it will have to subsidise concessionary travel for pensioners by an extra £1.3m a year to keep up with demand for free bus travel for over 60s after 9.30am.

And the authority is bracing itself for an annual £1m shortfall in on-street parking ticket and fines income, on top of receiving £85,000 less a year from people parking at St Nicholas car park because the number of spaces have been reduced.

Councillor Patrick Kitterick, cabinet member for transport, said: "In a recession people are more careful about parking on double yellow lines and they aren't using car parks as much.

"There are also cost pressures because more people are using the buses."

The council will also be spending £100,000 on traffic management equipment, including cameras to track vehicles driving through pedestrianised areas or one-way streets the wrong way.

After applying to the Government to take over powers from the police for "moving offences", targeted areas could include Causeway Lane and Charles Street to bring in money from fines.

As part of the job cuts, 30 posts are expected to be lost from the highways department, saving an estimated £2m.

Around 10 bus routes subsidised by the authority could also be axed, saving £300,000 over three years.

The council spends £1m on supporting 49 bus services – 24 of which are schools services and 11 are services where they share the cost with the county.

Terry Kirby, from the local branch of the Campaign for Better Transport, said the bus cuts were worrying but not a surprise.

He said: "Some of these routes have been under threat for a long time, it's not a shock.

"It is horrific on Causeway Lane and Charles Street and I think it's great if they get revenue from catching people driving down it the wrong way."

ADULT SOCIAL CARE

This department is one of the largest in the council, with a budget of £81m this year. Over the next three years £11.9m in reductions will be made but overall the budget will grow by £5.6m to meet the needs of an increasing elderly population.

By 2011 every new person getting social care through the council will have a personal budget.

This means they will be given a sum of cash and they can choose what to spend it on, instead of the council spending it for them. Because of this some free services will soon be charged for, including activities at day care centres and transport to day centres.

At the moment 275 people use the city's six day care centres – which could eventually close due to a fall in demand.

Councillor Rory Palmer, cabinet member for adult social care, said: "Our priority is making sure people get the care they need.

"It would be unfair to have different cost and pricing levels for people accessing services through personal budgets and through current traditional ways of charging – so prices of services which are subsidised will increase and charges for services which are currently free (ie fully subsidised) will be charged for.

"It's fair to say over time in response to demand from service users we would expect, after careful review, a day centre could close."

Coun Palmer added people who paid nothing because of their financial situation – roughly 45% of the 4,500 people who get non-residential care – would still get free care.

Tony Donovan, director of Age Concern Leicester, said: "I do appreciate there are pressures on councils and we would want to work with them on that, but not to the detriment of older people.

"Most people going to day centres are very frail and need that kind of support – in terms of our own centres they are pretty well at full capacity."

CULTURE & LEISURE

There are winners and losers in this category, with sports centres and museums facing potential cuts to opening hours and De Montfort Hall getting a facelift.

Libraries could also be moved into nearby council-owned venues to save on costs.

Leisure centres and museums will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to see where hours could be reduced – saving the city council up to £143,000 by 2013.

Museums could be opened for longer if visitor demand is there.

De Montfort Hall will see a £200,000 revamp in the next year, with old carpets being ripped up and the toilets replaced.

But Leicester will no longer enter the Britain in Bloom competition because the urban regeneration category, at which the city excelled at in the past, has been scrapped.

This will save £75,000 but it will not mean floral displays will go entirely.

Councillor Andy Connelly is the cabinet member for culture and leisure.

He said: "We will look at the leisure centres and talk to the managers to see if opening hours could be reduced.

"The refurbishment at De Montfort is not going to do everything we would like but it will be an improvement.

"I'd love to put in an air conditioning system there but that would cost about £1m.

"The In Bloom budget was affected because the regeneration category has ceased. People will still see flower baskets in the city, but in these difficult times we have to see where we can save as well."

A few curatorial museum posts will be cut and the museum's outreach and learning services will be reduced – saving a total of £113,000 by 2013.

COMMUNITY

People suffering with noisy neighbours may be affected by a £90,000 reduction in funding for the city's noise pollution team by 2013.

Councillor Sarah Russell, cabinet member for environment, said: "We are reducing the noise team by one post. They will not be working on Mondays and Tuesdays because most complaints are at weekends. If someone has a problem it tends to take place throughout the week and we can help then."

Coun Russell said less qualified, therefore cheaper, staff would be drafted in to help the noise team cut costs as well.

The council's 30 community centres will get a one-off £500,000 windfall for repairs and renovations. A staff review could see posts lost as managers are centralised.

Councillor Abdul Osman, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: "We have a large number of youth worker teams who could be integrated. We don't potentially see this as reducing staff because we have frozen some vacancies."