There is a public rally this Saturday 15 January – starting 12 noon at Preston Flag Market. Protesters will be demonstrating against the £179m cuts recently announced by Lancashire County Council.

There is concern across the county that some proposed cuts to services will affect the most disadvantaged. Actions such as closing children’s homes and reducing social care will put further strain on charities, which are already struggling with their own reduced funding in the current economic climate.

LSH members welcomed the news in October that West Lancashire is cutting free travel to faith schools in a bid to make essential savings. The move will save the county council £2m a year. At such a time of economic stress, public money should not be used to fund discriminatory privileges. We urge the council to ensure there are no other similar privileges that can be reduced before they decide to cut services for the more vulnerable people in our county.

More details of the rally here: http://riversstream.blogspot.com/2011/01/preston-anti-cuts-demo-jan-15th-2011.html