THE HIGH Court decision on warden cuts will affect every single council in the county, according to Barnet Council's new leader.

Councillor Lynne Hillan said the judgement, which said councillors should aware of all the legal issues involved in their decisions, would made the business of making those decisions extremely difficult.

She said it was impractical to expect all councillors to be fully conversant with all laws their decisions affect.

“That's the reason we have officers and we have legal advice available at every meeting,” she said.

“It would be setting a precedent and it's of great concern to all councils.

“Under this decision we would have to please all of the people all of the time.”

Cllr Hillan pointed out that the judge had praised Barnet and said that the consultation by the council into the changes was “robust and substantial”.

But she said changes were necessary because the service was “outdated and unbalanced.”

“Sixty per cent of the budget is going to three per cent of the older population,” she said.

“It's an outdated model. Why should people be supported because of where they live?”

She said many people wanted to remain in their own homes and some sheltered housing had vacant units nobody wanted.

Cllr Hillan added that providing a warden service for those people while keeping the current provision for sheltered housing residents would cost a considerable amount of money at a time when councils are being forced to make efficiency savings.

She said: "We know that we are going to have restrictive funding over the next couple of years. Increasing services is not an option on the table."