We today begin to take a detailed look at how some of the planned Council cutbacks will affect the residents of York.

The voluntary sector in the city has played an important role in the City’s life long before David Cameron invented the “Big Society” phrase.

During the current year the Council is supporting the sector to the tune of £3.2 million. Much of this goes to large organisations like the Museums Trust (which is set to get a £300,000 cut to the £1.3 million that it currently gets for running the City’s Museums and Art Gallery).

However it is the smaller neighbourhood organisations, some of which relay on Ward committee support, which face the biggest cuts.

The Ward committee budget is being cut from £646,000 to £224,000, meaning that pro rata cuts would see voluntary bodies lose more than half their income.

We believe that it is wrong to do so to fund vanity projects like “free” city centre WiFi access.