After massive pressure from residents across the County, the Conservative Administration on Shropshire Council have caved in and shelved plans to slash £200,000 from the meals on wheels budget.
Liberal Democrats Leader Nigel Hartin said “The Administration have effectively adopted the amendment we proposed to full council that the £200K cut to the Meals on Wheels Budget not be taken to allow time for a full review. It is a great pity that they had not done this in the first place and not caused all this distress to our elderly residents. My colleagues and I have had very large number of representations on this issue from some very upset pensioners and carers. We now have to ensure that the forthcoming ‘review’ on this issue does not amount to a series of cuts to this service by stealth.”
Cllr Heather Kidd, Chair of Community Service Scrutiny Committee commented “Our Committee was due to meet to scrutinise this service on 4th March. This would have been patently absurd given that the full council was going to be asked to cut the service on 25th February. Now at least we can do our job properly! I would like to set up a Task and Finish Group’ on 4th to assess exactly what kind of service our elderly require.”
If this move is confirmed then the Liberal Democrats will withdrawn their amendment on this issue but will proceed with amendments on the Administrations threat to Library Buses and funding to voluntary organisations.