Liberal Democrats deplore the action of the Conservative government in cutting its revenue support grant funding of Warwickshire County Council by 33% next year, while placing an increasing share of the financial burden on local council taxpayers especially those on fixed incomes.
This is a kick in the teeth for the Conservative-led council which has already cut services by £30 million over the last two years. Lib Dem county leader, Jerry Roodhouse (Rugby Eastlands & Hillmorton) wrote an open letter to all six of Warwickshire’s Conservative MPs on 17th January, asking them to put pressure on their government to change its mind. To date not one of them has replied, nor even spoken out against this bad settlement for Warwickshire.
Against this difficult background, on Thursday 4th February the County Council will meet to set its budget for the 2016/17 financial year.
The Conservative administration was already planning to cut services by a further £16 million next year, affecting many front-line services. Now, by the actions of the government, a further £5 million of savings is required even with council tax being raised by 3.99%. Conservative rule at Westminster and Shire Hall is bringing more taxes for fewer services!
Liberal Democrat budget priorities for 2016/17 are building on our previous campaigns of focusing scarce resources on children and young people, giving them the best possible start in life so they can fulfil their potential, while safeguarding the most vulnerable and needy regardless of where they live in the county.
The Conservative administration’s draft budget fails to protect highway maintenance spending at a level that will stop the condition of the highway network deteriorating over coming years. Liberal Democrats believe that a good highway network is vital to the economic prosperity of the county, and want to invest additional capital funding of £4 million over two years into the highway maintenance programme.
The Liberal Democrats will continue pressing for more radical cuts in central management overheads in order to help protect front-line services, including a slimmed-down Cabinet structure and freezing councillors’ allowances.
Cllr Jerry Roodhouse said:
“The Liberal Democrat Group will be tabling amendments on Thursday to the Conservatives’ proposals, seeking to secure the agreement of other political groups to our budget priorities. Within such a tight financial situation, we are clear where limited investment is needed, and how this can be paid for.
“Let no-one be in any doubt, however. Warwickshire has been dealt a very bad hand by this Conservative government, and the Conservative county leadership has proved powerless to do anything about it. No matter what happens on Thursday, the people of Warwickshire will be getting ‘More Taxes for Fewer Services’.”
ENDS
Notes:
An example of the areas where the Liberal Democrats want to focus additional resources is the ConnectWELL social prescribing project, which has been piloted in the Rugby area during 2015.
Details of the project can be found at: http://warkslibdems.mycouncillor.org.uk/connectwell/
http://warkslibdems.mycouncillor.org.uk/connectwell/case-study-a/
http://warkslibdems.mycouncillor.org.uk/connectwell/case-study-b/