CAMPAIGNERS calling for the protection of public services in the borough are hoping to rally the community against pending cuts.

Organisers of the newly formed Barnet Alliance for Public Services want to arrange a borough wide protest march to support public service workers following the group's launch last Thursday.

Trade union members, public sector staff and residents met at North London Business Park, in Oakleigh Road South, to discuss how to combat the imminent results of the Government's spending review.

The Alliance wants to create vision for “a better and fairer community” in the borough, and union bosses praised the input of the audience.

John Burgess, branch secretary of Barnet Unison, said: “It was a brilliant meeting.

“The main point of bringing the Alliance together was to discuss the worst kept secret, that on October 20 we will get the news that a massive amount of the public service sector will be cut.

“They say they want to talk to the community, so as a community we need to have views on what we should be spending money on. We need to send a message that they can't cut public services in this borough.

“We learned it is hard work to get people involved but the anger from the community was just tremendous. We have got to stand up for public services and we gained a lot of strength from the meeting, which is the only way we can develop and work with the community.”

More than 250 people are thought to have turned out for the meeting, and the Alliance believes it shows the depth of feeling within the community about Government cuts and Barnet Council plans to outsource services under the easyCouncil model.

Director Ken Loach was amongst the speakers at the meeting and Vicki Morris, publicity officer for Barnet Trades Union Council, said the Alliance learned a lot about generating support towards the campaign.

She said: “There was a very feisty atmosphere.

“We picked up on how we can build a big campaign to fight a specific attack. It seemed from the floor that people were ready for a bit of a battle.

“There was a lot of anger from people who would not accept public services and users of public services need to pay for the mistakes of the banking sector, and the politicians who didn't monitor them properly.”

The Alliance will be holding meeting tonight at South Friern library, in Colney Hatch Lane, to begin discussing the organisation of a mass rally thorough the borough opposing the loss of services and jobs.

Mr Burgess said: “What we do need is a focus and a march will be one of those focused activities that will bring people together.

“There will be a lot of talk on the streets over the next few months.”