TOWN Hall bosses painted a bleak future for Barnsley as they announced at least 1,200 council jobs will have to be axed over four years. Council leader Steve Houghton said the impact of the Government's budget squeeze would be felt in every part of Barnsley society, laying the blame squarely at the door of the coalition's decision to cut the national deficit in five years.He said Barnsley Council would cut £40 million from its budget by 2015 - made up of £16m next year and £8m for the next three years.
But he estimated that would result in £100m being lost from the Barnsley economy, as the surge in unemployment and reduced public spending hits the private sector.
Around 1,500 staff have been sent consultation letters about the forthcoming redundancies.
Of those, 335 will be axed by April, with hundreds more to lose their jobs each year until 2015.
The announced redundancies come on top of 181 workers who have already been axed, 112 of whom are home carers.
Coun Houghton said he felt for the 1,500 who have received letters.
He said: "They will each be sitting on these letters thinking, 'Is that me?' They will be thinking that until January when we make the final decisions.
"Unfortunately this is only the beginning. The current forecasts are we are going to have to do this again and again and again.
"These are real numbers, not something we have just picked out of the air.
"These are without question the biggest cuts in Barnsley Council's history. The is the same for all councils up and down the country."
He said the council would get the true picture of the size of the challenge only when the Government releases new information about their budgets in November or December.
He insisted trade union representatives would be fully consulted, with "all options on the table" to mitigate the number of losses, including pay cuts.
Council chief executive Phil Coppard, who has worked at the Town Hall since the 1980s, said all "discretionary spending" has been scrapped from the budget, and the council will have trouble meeting even its basic statutory responsibilities.
He added: "I don't think it has ever been as bad as this, even in the really, really bad times."
His team has met up with businesses in the town to see if any can recruit some of the laid-off council workers - an initiative he said has been met "with enthusiasm".
But Coun Houghton added: "We want as many council staff as possible to get new jobs.
"But the downside is there are 26,000 people already on working age benefit. They will now go to the back of the queue.
"This is the direct result of trying to get rid of the deficit in five years. In my view it is an ideological drive to create a smaller state."
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