91Èȱ¬

Durham County Council has protected its road-gritting budget after consulting the public.

The evil budget-setting days have now arrived for our councils.

They don't have to warn of savage cuts and job losses any more, they are delivering them.

Both and Councils meet this week to outline how they'll save tens of millions of pounds and cut hundreds of jobs.

But some of our local authorities want us to help them.

They have been consulting their council taxpayers to find out which services they should protect and which ones they should cut.

Durham County Council says it's cancelled a cut to its winter road-gritting budget because the public told it they wanted that service maintained.

is also touring draughty village halls and community centres to gauge opinion.

has also been consulting on what to do.

But is this really born of a desire to empower people, or just a fig leaf that will make little difference to the decisions?

You could argue that we elect politicians to take decisions like this, and they already have a public mandate to make them on our behalf.

I certainly don't recall many councils asking what people would like to see more money spent on in the days of plenty.

There is also a danger that we as the public may understandably prioritise the services and jobs that are most visible to us, while writing off some of the less obvious, even if they might be just as important.

And it's one thing to decide you can live with the library budget being cut in a consultation, quite another to find that means it's your local branch that will shut.

There is a danger then that this could become a buck-passing exercise with politicians covering their backs.

It may be far easier to face down protests if you can say it was the public's choice to cut particular services.

The reality is that all our councils will be making painful decisions over the next few years, which no amount of public consultation can disguise.

It is probably better that they do find out what we think, but you have to suspect that most decisions will still be taken by councillors in committee rooms up and down the region.

You can catch more on this story on the Politics Show at 12 noon on Sunday on 91Èȱ¬1 or after the programme via the 91Èȱ¬ iPlayer.

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