The budget proposals being put forward by the Liberal Democrat Cabinet leading Stockport Council were published last week ahead of the formal meeting this Tuesday to recommend these to the Council later in February. This includes the measures needed to ensure that a balanced budget is set for the year ahead in the face of continued underfunding by central government.
Speaking after the publication of the proposals, Cllr Mark Hunter, Leader of the Council and of the Lib Dems at Stockport Town Hall, said: “The all-party Local Government Association have assessed there is a shortfall of some £4bn across English Local Authorities following a worse than expected provisional Local Government Finance Settlement last month. Whilst Stockport Council continues to be well run and with a robust, cross-party approach to our finances, even more councils are having to declare their effective bankruptcy in the face of continued inadequate funding by the Conservative government.
“None of us came into politics to cut services or make things harder for residents but, with some 75% of our spending on heavily regulated statutory services such as Children’s and Adult’s Social Services, all councils are faced with very tough decisions.”
Cllr Jilly Julian, Cabinet Member with responsibility for the budget, added: “Despite the stark financial landscape we face, I am pleased that we have been able to focus additional, one-off resources into areas of real need. We have been able to invest in tackling poverty within the borough and also focus more resources on gulley-clearing and cleaning up our streets, all things residents have told us are their priorities.
“We remain opposed to the government’s use of council tax increases to fund statutory services over which we have limited control and repeat our call for them to make additional funding available to councils instead of focussing on populist measures such as tax cuts.”
