The Labour leader of Trafford council slammed ‘scandalous’ cuts in funding from central government as the authority voted through a 4.99 per cent council tax increase, dipped into its cash reserves and agreed huge savings to bridge a near-£25million gap in its budget. That was the assessment of Coun Tom Ross at the budget council meeting for 2023/23 which approved the budget at £209.38m and a £92m spend on capital projects across the borough.
In addition to the council tax rise, the precept levied on Greater Manchester residents for fire, police and the metro mayor is going up by 6.04pc across bands A to H, which means people in the lowest band will pay £234.16, up £13.33 from last year, and in the highest £702.50, up £40. Coun Ross said: “It remains a scandal that local government has borne the brunt of austerity measures first introduced in 2010.
“At the time we were promised we’d see an end of austerity by 2015. This promise rings very hollow when presented with a gross budget gap of £24.86m for 2023/24.” He continued: “The cumulative budget gap since 2010/11 now stands at almost £290m for Trafford.
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“In the meantime, Trafford receives the lowest total spend per head of population across all Greater Manchester authorities and the fourth lowest across all metropolitan boroughs.” He pledged Trafford would continued to campaign as part of the F20 group of lowest-funded councils for the government to introduce a funding floor to quickly bring the borough’s core spending power closer to well-resourced local authorities.
He said: “If a funding floor were set at 90pc of the average core spending power of other local authorities, Trafford would receive an extra £5.7m in revenue.” That funding would have wiped out the need for any increase in the council tax, he said.
‘Income generation’ and ‘service delivery savings’ will amount to £11.76m while use of reserves from the previous year’s business rates benefits and a one-off distribution from the Greater Manchester Combined Authtority totalled £3.62m. Dipping into general reserves to the tune of £3.79m bridged the remaining gap - some 40 per cent of thetotal spare cash pot.
Coun Ross trumpeted the additional boost of £8.83m into local social care and said ‘significant investment’ would also be made in areas to support ‘our most vulnerable residents’ including an extension to the council tax support scheme, meaning that 80pc of claimants on low income will not have to pay any council tax.
The Trafford Assist scheme would also deliver £3.2m of support to families during school holidays. Capital projects include a £11.82m investment in highways and modernising leisure centres, including decarbonisation work costing £16,27m; addressing additional needs in schools and the provision of extra school places at £14.03m; town centre regeneration at £13.57m; investment in Partington Sports Village via the Levelling Up Fund of £4.67m; and £7.49m in the Local Authority Housing Fund with the objective to provide long-term sustainable accommodation for Ukraine and Afghan families.
Conservative shadow executive member for finance Coun Dave Morgan said there were parts of the budget his party ‘don’t like’. “We are concerned about the rate of council tax increase,” he said. “Whilst this is always an option, it comes during the most difficult time for families, particularly thos struggling before the cost of living squeeze.
“This will increase the council tax by more than 26pc since this administration came into power [in 2018]. “And residents no longer have to put up with [just] an increased council tax bill. Andy Burnham [Greater Manchester metro mayor] has just imposed yet another large council tax increase, taking the mayoral precept to 60 per cent since he came into office [in 2018].”
Also responding to the budget was Liberal Democrat leader Coun Julian Newgrosh who said it was ‘deeply regrettable’ that some of the council’s savings were being achieved by the ‘highly unpopular’ sale of community assets, particularly in Timperley and Altrincham, including the Riddings community centre in Timperley which housed the studio where cult comedian Frank Sidebottom made his iconic recordings.
“Challenging is a euphemism that summarises the perilous state of local government finances,” he said. “We note that the total budget spend of Trafford council is up by 8.7pc.
“However, due to the disastrous and incompetent management of the economy by the Tory Government, this increase has been negated.”
Leader of Green group Coun Dan Jerrome said: “Since 2010 the austerity programme has stripped away local government funding year on year. This barbarity has brought this country to its knees. There must have been a collective fear among many local authorities that they would simply go under this financial year.
“I believe that even this Conservative Government has started to recognise that proper funding is needed.” But he said that instead of providing extra funding it has passed the cost on to the council payer, most of whom in Trafford would see an increase of £72 this year and £200 over the next three years.
“The cost of living crisis is already hitting families hard,” he said. “But we also have a wages crisis. Pay has never been suppressed for so long and by so much since the Napoleonic wars.
“It’s not only Trafford. Three-quarters of local authorities are taking the step of increasing the council tax by the full 4.99pc allowed.”
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