On 2nd March Salford Council passed a budget which involved £40 million cuts to services. Since then many staff have left council employment but it isn’t always clear where the cuts are falling.
However, Salford Against the Cuts has unearthed yet another cut to frontline services. The residents of the tower blocks in Islington - Arthur Millwood Court and Canon Hussey Court - have revealed that the hours of their security guards are to be cut by half and instead of 24 hr cover there will be a security presence only between 12 noon and 12 midnight.
Residents who have lived there for a good while have pointed out that in the 1970s the blocks were ‘mad places’ until the residents themselves agreed to pay extra for full-time security cover. One resident, speaking to SAC Community Officer and Ordsall Against the Cuts Organiser George Tapp, described anti-social noise, fights, break-ins, dog fights and fires in unoccupied flats. He feared that if the guards were removed it would go back to how it was.
Salford Against the Cuts will be organising with residents, tenants committees and unions to ensure the guards can continue to provide full 24 hour cover in the flats.
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