LIVE BLOG: Calderdale Council Q&A on budget proposals

Jane Scullion (JS), Silvia Dacre (SD)and Becky McIntyre (BI) are on the panel

Session set to last around an hour

Here we go then, we're underway

Not sure how long the Q&A will last but hopefully plenty of people take the chance to ask some questions on their areas of concern/interest

The proposals will be finalised by the Cabinet on Monday 12 February and the budget will be agreed at the Annual Budget Council meeting on Monday 26 February

As well as disposing of The Shay, the Cabinet’s proposed budgets savings include:

savings from festive lighting;

charging for care services within Heatherstones, which provides temporary residential care to help people adjust after being in hospital (after an initial free 6 week period);

a reduction in youth services across the borough;

a reduction in the level of preventative work of the Youth Justice service;

a reduction in spend on contracts with external suppliers;

the introduction of a permit scheme to use household waste centres and

the closure of Elland household waste recycling centre.

When the proposals were announced, Coun Jane Scullion, Leader of Calderdale Council, who is on the panel tonight, said: "These are extremely challenging times and unfortunately, we are now faced with some very difficult choices. Calderdale has a proud record of robust financial management, and we will not put that reputation at risk.

“Our priority is to set a sustainable budget, for this and subsequent years. We must be able to continue to balance the books.

“Over recent years we have tried to do ‘more with less’ but this is not sustainable and inevitably we must now look at reducing services which we are not legally required to provide.

“Like all councils Calderdale must by law provide certain services such as social care and refuse collections, whereas many other services whilst important, are optional. To protect our most critical services we have no choice but to make some tough decisions.”

Calderdale Council say they are having to make tough decisions due to a lack of money from central government, and as such, having to reconsider providing some services which they are not legally obliged to.

One of which, controversially, is The Shay, which was included in the council's proposed cuts, leaving its future up in the air.

This is an important chance for the people of Calderdale to have their say and put questions to those who are making some big decisions on the future of the borough.

Up for discussion this evening I'm sure will be issues like council tax, The Shay, youth services, value for money...

Welcome to our live blog on Calderdale Council's online Q&A with members of the public on the recently announced budget proposals.

We'll bring you all the updates from the session, which gives members of the public a chance to ask questions about what the council has proposed.