Protest The Cuts; march through Reading on Saturday

March through Reading on Saturday, TUC day of actions.
There will be a march from the University to the Civic centre via the Rbh.

Meet up at any of these locations:
11am Royal Berkshire hospital
12am Market place
1pm Civic centre + rally

The scale of the cuts in Reading are going to be huge.

Reading councillors are expected to make cuts of £17.8 million from the budget and slash around 300 posts.

This is likely to lead to about 150 staff redundancies that are expected to cost the council between £2.5 and £3 million in redundancy payments.

Unlimited free bus travel for pensioners, seasonal replanting of municipal flowerbeds, roadside mowing and graffiti clean-ups are among service cuts the council will be asked to agree.

Proposed cuts and rises
£200,000 cut by reducing meetings and Civic Centre opening hours
£750,000 increased income from the Town Hall, The Hexagon and South Street
£35,000 saving by replacing seasonal bedding at roadsides to low-maintenance shrubs or grass
£80,000 cut by reducing roadside verge cutting from 10 times a year to five times a year
£50,000 income by standardising charges across all sport and leisure facilities. Some now have no charge.
£178,000 income from charging £22 per year for emptying green waste bins
£225,000 cuts in the regulatory teams including licensing and environmental health. For example, stop the out-of-hours dog warden service
£138,000 cut to Street Care services such as cleaning and graffiti removal
£20,000 income from increased charges for second and other residential parking permits
£238,000 cut to council scheme for concessionary bus passes for pensioners, reducing it to the statutory national scheme that provides free off-peak bus travel. At the moment four per cent of all journeys are paid from council tax and not from government funding
£500,000 income from parking charges for currently free on-street parking