Stockport Liberal Democrats

The culmination of many months’ work, last night’s meeting of Stockport Council saw the Council Budget set for the year ahead, managing an £11m deficit, caused by continued underfunding of local authorities by the Conservative government and which has resulted in many councils declaring effective bankruptcy.

Speaking after the meeting, and repeating the call he made in answer to a public question. Cllr Mark Hunter, Leader of the Council and of the Liberal Democrats at Stockport Town Hall, said: “Local government is facing a bleak financial future. I genuinely fear winter is coming, the system is broken. Councils are simply not being resourced to provide the services that residents are demanding. This is not just my view, but the view of the all-party Local Government Association, who say there is a shortfall of £4bn for council in England over the next two financial years.

“Stockport has a long and proud record of sound financial management and the prudent use of resources developed over many years, with strong pre-decision scrutiny and a willingness to take the tough decisions when they are needed. Yet we will face a budget meeting next year where a further deficit of some £20m will need to be managed. Council Tax payers will be asked to pay more and more whilst the universal services have to be cut back so that we can afford to pay for Adult and Children’s Social Care.

“How is it right that Council Tax payers locally carry all the risk for funding Social Care? Why does this burden fall onto a regressive form of taxation rather than being funded centrally out of general taxation, where those who earn the most also pay the most? This model works for schools and it works for the NHS, so why not for Social Care?

“I am therefore calling on the government to establish a Royal Commission to explore fully the current state of Local Government finances across the board and for them to come up with recommendations as to how the system might be improved, before even more local councils are forced into bankruptcy. It is time for a fundamental reset.”

Liberal Democrats on Stockport Council are looking ahead to setting the Council’s budget later this week after many months of preparation and cross-party work through the Scrutiny Committees.

Speaking ahead of Thursday night’s meeting, Cllr Mark Hunter, Leader of the Council and of the Lib Dems at Stockport Town Hall, said: “Everybody knows just how challenging the financial situation is for local authorities at the moment as the Conservative government continues to provide inadequate funding to deliver essential services our residents rely on.

“With headlines about councils such as Birmingham ‘going bankrupt’, and neighbouring councils like Cheshire East in the news amid warnings of having inadequate reserves, I am pleased that Stockport Council has such a well-established and mature approach to sound financial management and budget setting, with all parties engaged positively in delivering the very best for our borough that we can afford.

“We are not in the same difficulties as others because we have taken the difficult decisions as they needed to be taken over many years. Together each year we have re-shaped our services, we have made only prudent use of reserves, and we have taken the difficult but necessary decisions around Council Tax increases. That said, the Local Government Association has identified a £4bn funding deficit for English councils over the coming two years. We really hope the next government recognises this and acts to ensure more money is made available for the vital services our residents rely on.”

Cllr Jilly Julian, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources and Budget-lead, added: “Despite the very challenging financial landscape we face, I am frankly relieved that we are able to present the council with a balanced budget which delivers against an ambitious refresh of the Council Plan.

“High among our priorities is tackling poverty and inequality across the borough. We are investing significantly in programmes which will support our most disadvantaged residents in ways which improve their quality of life whilst reducing costs to the council over the medium term.

“We are also finding ways to continue to invest in cleaning up the borough, with more investment in maintenance of our drainage system, more parking enforcement and improved road safety measures, especially near schools.

“I am grateful not only to my Liberal Democrat colleagues but also to my fellow councillors of all parties for their positive engagement in our budget setting process over the past six months. Come Thursday evening there will be no surprises from the Liberal Democrats – just the proposal of a sound budget that implements the changes needed to balance our books for another year.”

In response to a media enquiry for a forthcoming news article regarding the Council’s use of collection agents for Council Tax debts, Cllr Jilly Julian, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, said: “Liberal Democrats oppose Council Tax in principle because it is an unfair and regressive taxation model. But, along with Business Rates, it forms a significant part of the Council’s ability to fund critical services.

“The Conservative government’s funding of local government has been based on continual and unsustainable increases in Council Tax. But times really are tough and, despite the noise from government, the cost-of-living crisis is likely to be around for a while yet, and we understand that some residents are still really struggling.

“This is why in Stockport we have a Council Tax discounts scheme intended to support those who need it most. For example, we provide up to 100% Council Tax relief for eligible residents in up to band B properties and, unlike other authorities in Greater Manchester such as Salford, we do not seek Council Tax at all from those who clearly cannot afford to pay it. Our 100% Council Tax relief also now extends to care leavers up to the age of 25.

“It’s also why we have advice and support services to help people maximise their income, provide crisis support, and help them with longer term money management. We’ll keep working to find ways to ease the burden on those on the lowest incomes here in Stockport.

“It is, however, very important to make sure that those who can pay, but simply refuse to, do pay their fair share, along with everyone else.

“It is interesting that Stockport Labour are raising this issue now as this isn’t a new situation. From the FoI data you have received you can see the final two years of collections under Labour before their administration ended in May 2022.

“There has been no change to the agency used or the process for collections since the current Labour Group Leader was in the Cabinet himself. There has been a shift, however – the number of cases referred to a collection agency has been lower in the past two years, reflecting Liberal Democrat emphasis on early support and targeted, enhanced Council Tax relief.

“Recognising that there’s still work to be done, though, we have already been working towards adoption of the Citizens Advice Bureau Council Tax Protocol, which will happen shortly. Labour could have adopted the Protocol during their six years as an administration, but they clearly did not believe it was a priority at that time.”

Approach to Local Plan vindicated

Cllr Mark Hunter, Leader of the Council and of the Liberal Democrats at Stockport Town Hall, said: “Stockport’s Liberal Democrats have always been clear that we need the right housing in the right places. We successfully argued to leave the GM Spatial Framework because the proposals would simply have released Green Belt land into the hands of developers and would have thwarted any attempts at a brownfield-first approach.

“We paused our consultation on our own Local Plan last year when the government made it clear that the rules were going to change, despite pressure from the Labour Group to continue. The new rules published just before Christmas make it clear that we no longer need to include Green Belt sites and our decision to pause has saved council tax payers some £200,000 in what would have been a worthless consultation.

“The council has already sought legal advice over the best way to proceed and work continues to ensure the policies drafted under the old rules are compliant with the new ones. Briefings have already happened for Group Leaders, a Local Development Scheme has been published allowing for consultation to commence as soon as possible without compromising the pre-election period, and a formal working meeting is happening today to take the necessary next steps.

“Our Local Development Scheme sets out the precise timings for delivery of an ambitious Local Plan that will deliver housing across the borough. In the meantime we continue to deliver new housing of mixed tenure, with significant developments well underway including 4,000 new homes within the Mayoral Development Corporation area and beyond.

“Labour in Stockport seem hell-bent on concreting over the Green Belt, putting more profitable plots of land in the hands of developers and thereby stalling any efforts to redevelop our urban core and other, previously developed sites. We will not allow this to happen on our watch.”

The new version of the Local Development Scheme is available here.

Below a reply sent to the Conservative PPC for Hazel Grove re The Forum Theatre, Romiley along with an earlier letter sent to government seeking support for cultural venues affected by RAAC.

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.”