IT WAS disappointing that the Liberal Democrat plan to put an extra £3 million into frontline services was defeated at last Thursday’s Budget Council (The Press, February 27).

The Labour-Green budget passed makes various cuts to services. Some of these are outlined plainly, such as the cuts to community centres and highways maintenance – both of which we opposed.

Other cuts were hidden in the so-called ‘re-wiring’ and ‘transformation’ programmes. In Place-Based Services, these include plans to charge residents for all green bin collections, further cuts to street cleaning and litter bins, and proposals to look at reducing the frequency of grey bin emptying.

We were the only group to oppose all these cuts and our plans would have put extra money into boosting recycling, supporting local businesses and helping pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

To put £3 million more into these areas required choices. Our choice was to cut non-essential city-centre projects such as the £9 million Media Hub, reduce senior management, and move money from council coffers and debt repayment into frontline services.

It was a shame that Labour and Green councillors rejected this option and instead decided to cut services.

Cllr Ann Reid (Dringhouses and Woodthorpe), Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Grassholme, Woodthorpe, York.