Further reductions in cash from Theresa May’s Tory Government! Increasing demand for services! High demand for Adult Social Care and Children’s Services!

This was the backdrop for last week’s meeting of the Labour/Liberal Democrat Cabinet in Walsall Council House as they made their final touches to produce a legal balanced budget ahead of a special meeting of the Full Council next week.

Walsall isn’t on its own. So like countless councils across England Walsall’s Council leaders were faced with an above inflation Council Tax rise to protect front line services.

Under the Government’s own rules council tax rates could go up by as much as 6.99% without the need to go out for a referendum. But here in Walsall thanks to the difficult decisions taken by the Labour/Lib Dem Executive there were no new cuts to services in the 4 yr budget plan. As a result the Cabinet are able to soften the blow a little by recommending a more modest increase in Council Tax of 4.99%. The final decision will be made at the special meeting of the full council at the end of  the month.

If the Cabinet members had not taken the tough decisions last year in producing Walsall’s first four year financial plan council tax payers would be faced with central government civil servants stepping in to impose a council tax which most certainly would have lead to further hardship to low and middle income families across the borough.

Speaking to the meeting Liberal Democrat Cllr Ian Shires said:

“For many years now, governments of all political colours have seen fit to centralise more and more powers to themselves.

“The result of this has impacted directly on councils who once were the major providers of services that have improved the lives for generations of our citizens.

“Things are very different today. Much of what we do we have a statutory responsibility to do. We have no choice, and the money that comes from central government grant funding has been drastically cut.

“In 2010 Core Funding to Walsall from the Government stood at £199 million. By 2017 that had reduced to £90 million.

“Add this to cost pressures – remember, people are living much longer; the way we live puts us under more stress; and the effect of the pollution from the over-crowded roads – means that over the past seven years savings totaling a staggering £160 million have had to be found and implemented. Whatever services that remain the responsibility of local government must still be paid for which is why there is a need to raise Council Tax.

“To add to the pressures local government are experiencing, the government has decided gradually to reduce the central grant to zero by the beginning of the next decade, while offering the sop of allowing councils to retain more of the uniform business rate.

“I’m not going into the pros and cons of them doing this. Suffice it to say already the cracks are showing. Northamptonshire County Council has just put in a ‘Section 114 Notice’ banning all new expenditure, while the UK’s richest County, Surrey, has been hit by a £100 million cash crisis.

“This kind of sets the background of the world in which we operate, or does it?

“What is before us tonight goes under the grand title of “The Corporate Budget Plan”. To members of the public and the press this is when they get to see what their council tax bill is going to look like.

“What is really difficult to get across to people, some councillors and MPs included that the council also collects local taxes on behalf of other agencies. By that I mean the Police Crime Commissioner and the Fire Service both of whom have their own budget processes which decide the amount of their respective Precepts which we then have to collect on their behalf via the Council Tax Bill which drops through their door next month. How good’s that?

“But there’s something more sinister than that. The spiralling cost of adult social care.

“The Government’s Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid was lobbied by the LGA over the massive shortfall in funding for adult social care services faced by council’s across the country. To be precise there is a funding gap of £2.3 billion.

“Javid went away for a chat with the Chancellor and one supposes, his boss Mrs May, and came back with an extra £150 million. It hardly scratches the surface! And Walsall’s cut of that? £895,000 against a projected needs based funding gap of around £12 million. But it’s not new monies. It comes from an expected under-spend in his department. It’s a one off so it’s temporary.

“On a brighter note West Midlands Mayor Andy Street failed in his attempt to convince his cabinet, the Leaders of the seven Met Councils, to allow him to load another precept onto local council tax payers at least for this coming year.

“Moving onto the salient points specific to my Portfolio.

“I’d draw your attention to P18 of the report with reference to Libraries Redesign.

“Following the bold collective decision to consolidate the Library Service around six Libraries, one in each of our District Centres along with the Central Library here in town. Just to say that the savings which came out of this work have allowed us to create a sustainable service into which we are now investing further to improve access and extend opening hours.

“Work will begin shortly on the much needed refurbishment of the Central Library. Of course along with this we will be bringing into the building the Local History Centre and Archives.

“The temporary Council House Library opened a week earlier than planned and is proving very popular with service users.

“Those smaller libraries we had to withdraw the service from have wherever possible not been lost to their local communities.

“Moving onto Appendix 1 P28

“Findings of the Scrutiny Committee.

“Concern had been expressed about car parking needs at the Oak Park Active Living Centre. The committee was given assurances that this had been considered and would be addressed ahead of any construction of the 2^nd artificial grass pitch.

“I would also point out that there were no recommendations made to cabinet by the Committee.”