PROGRESS made to save nearly £300 million from Hampshire County Council’s budget has been branded as “disgraceful” due to the impact it has had on Basingstoke and Deane.

At a recent county council cabinet meeting, officers said they were “serving Hampshire well” and that it is on track to make savings to help maintain vital services in the county.

The savings have come from a host of different services being cut to help deal with a £48 million reduction in Hampshire’s central government grant this year.

This included the closure of 10 of Basingstoke and Deane’s 11 children’s centres.

Leader of the Labour Group in Basingstoke, Cllr Paul Harvey, has blasted the county council for “congratulating” themselves on a job well done.

He said: “The way they are saying how wonderfully they are doing is actually quite disgraceful when you look at what is happening in our communities because of the cuts which are being made by the county council. It’s terrible that they would be so arrogant.”

Cllr Harvey believes members of the county council should be more accountable at borough level and should appear before the borough’s scrutiny committee.

The county council’s cabinet assessed its performance against its ‘Shaping Hampshire’ plan for 2013-17, and focused on its four priorities of health and wellbeing, the economy, working with communities, and efficiency of services.

Key developments highlighted were the completion of major improvements to three Basingstoke A-roads, and the decision to not close any waste recycling centres.

Leader of the county council, Cllr Roy Perry said: “In spite of severe cuts in funding, the county council’s size, capacity and strong financial stewardship has meant that we have been able to deliver significant savings early, and reinvest them into more modern and efficient ways of working to protect services.”