Green Stroud District Councillors have reacted strongly to cuts to local government grants outlined in the Chancellor’s Spending Review which was released on Wednesday.
The proposed cuts will reduce central government funding to local authorities by 24%, or £4.1 billion, over the Spending Review period.
“Careful management of the budget by the Stroud District Council over the five years of Green/Labour/LibDem control has resulted in no council tax rises and no cuts in frontline services,” said Cllr Simon Pickering, adding “this will no longer be possible under the Chancellor’s budget review.”
“But now we are at the abyss and will have to either make savage cuts or raise council tax. We will have to look carefully at it,” said Pickering.
Since 2010-11, core central government funding to local authorities has been cut by 40 per cent, forcing them to make total savings of £20 billion to date, even as their responsibilities have increased and demand for their services has grown, due not least to our ageing population. In the words of the Local Government Association this ‘amounts to the biggest cuts to council funding in living memory’.
“The Government’s austerity agenda is derailing the provision of services for all of us, all over the UK,” said Cllr Jonathan Edmunds. “Local Government cuts strike at the heart of many services we come to rely on, such as litter collection and services for children and the vulnerable, but also the things which enrich and improve lives, including parks, leisure, sports, libraries and museums.”
“The welfare state bequeathed by George Osbourne will have much less to do with the climb out of the cradle than with the slow march towards the grave,” said Edmunds.
Cllr John Marjoram pointed out that the spending review includes cutting funding for training builders and taxing businesses for apprenticeship programmes. “This points to a bigger influx of European builders at the expense of young people who need skills and jobs. Even worse, by slashing grants for nursing education, critically needed health care professionals will be forced to go into massive debt in order to train.”
Cllr Martin Baxendale expressed concern that the Spending Review also encourages the sale of important assets by allowing councils to keep 100% of the proceeds. “This selling off the family silver to keep services going is stupid and short sighted as everyone knows that once you sell off your assets they’re gone forever.”
The spending review gives local councils the power to increase council tax rates by up to 2% without hitting the referendum threshold.
The Green Councillors are urging others on the Stroud District Council to seriously consider the necessity of an increase in council tax to protect essential services.