THE Liberal Democrats on Warrington Borough Council have explained why they voted in favour of the Labour-controlled Council’s 4.98 % council tax rise at last night’s budget meeting.
They say the increase is necessary to protect public services while they also broadly support the council’s investments, although they wouldn’t have invested in a bank and an energy company.
The Liberal Democrats supported Warrington Council’s proposal to increase Council Tax by 4.98% at the Budget meeting on Monday. Finance Spokesperson Cllr Ian Marks says, “Pressures on local government are so strong that there is very little scope for doing things differently. An increase is needed to protect vital public services.
Council funding has been reduced because of the way the Conservatives have run national government. Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster and has cost the country £100 billion a year. Investment has stagnated since the 2016 referendum and the brief Truss regime crashed the economy. Government scandals such as PPE wasted vast sums.
Record inflation hits council purchases and higher interest rates increase the cost of servicing debt. Warrington is lowly funded and MPs of both colours are guilty of not achieving higher settlements in the past to increase our baseline. Recruitment and retention of staff is an increasing issue for not just care workers, but for some other professionals too. The final pay award for our employees once agreed, could have a major impact on the budget.
Despite excellent work by officers, our Levelling Up bids failed. Prosperous councils in the south did well and the only constituency in the north to get grants in both Rounds was the Prime Minister’s. Even Michael Gove admits the whole Council Tax system is not satisfactory with valuations thirty years old and some allocation formulae based on 1988 data. The Fair Funding and Business Rates reviews have been pushed to beyond the General Election. Funding for social care is a massive problem and the Government has failed to fulfil its promise for reform. This impacts on the NHS by insufficient funding to stop people entering hospital and also a shortage for care after hospital, causing bed blocking.
We broadly support the Council’s policy of investing in solar farms, housing and regeneration but we would not have invested in a bank and an energy company. We are uneasy about investments in out-of-Borough properties. The Government has commissioned a report to look at the way our investments are governed but most of the other Councils they are investigating are run by Conservatives. Local Tories don’t like the Council’s investments but never tell us what services they would chop instead. However, it surprises us that our Labour run Council invests in companies connected with major donors to the Conservative Party.
The Budget contains welcome references to the Climate Emergency but more is needed for air quality monitors. There would be benefits in closer working with parish and town councils. The review of the use of consultants is welcome. What happened to the trial on the use of a new machine for speedy pothole repairs? We need another machine for cleaning out gullies. Out of town placements for children in need are expensive and being away from home is not good. Why don’t we have direct debits for green bin payments? How is the Western Link to be funded? Will the Travellers Site ever we established?”
Council “left with no choice” but to increase council tax by 4.98%
3 Comments
How ironic that Ian Marks should be offering financial advice to WBC! It was under the Lib Dem leadership that the contracts for the town centre regeneration project were signed, leaving residents with massive debts to be repaid over a 40 year period, It was the additional council tax from new developments built on our precious green fields that Ian Marks’ administration had planned to pay off the yearly instalments of these debts. The town centre regeneration project flopped, the ‘prestigious office complex’ planned to generate high rents failed to attract a buyer and became council offices and other venues also failed to generate the expected high rents. The current council have tried to generate income to manage the debts but have failed dismally with a string of ridiculously, high risk and ultimately failing investment projects. What a mess!
A vote for Lib Dems, is a vote for Labour
The Lib Dems do themselves, and their supporters, very few favours by giving this Labour administrations an easy ride, by proffering ineffectual objections to patently obvious bad investments, while ignoring the lack of democracy in most other things the Bowden; Broomhead; Mitchell triumvirate involve themselves in this matter.