The ‘period of plenty' that local government has enjoyed for the past six years is over, a chief executive warned last week. Town halls would now face ‘a period of real famine which will be worse than we expect', according to Redcar and Cleveland chief executive, Colin Moore. While the Comprehensive Spending Review, which was delayed in last month's Budget until the autumn, was always expected to be tight, he said councils were likely to face the pinch even more. Set alongside increasing targets for efficiency and mounting pressures on issues such as waste and adult social care, the future of local government finances looked bleak. Speaking at the t-gov Expo event in London, Mr Moore also claimed new technology must not be bolted on to council services without changing the processes. He told delegates at the event on transformational government: ‘Too often we bolt on new technology but leave the old skills and processes. ‘Transformation will happen through new skills and processes added to new technology which otherwise, is just one new box sitting in the corner.'