A LEADING Labour figure says he is disappointed the Tory-controlled Cheshire West and Chester Council declined his proposal for an all-party approach to handling a £21m reduction in Government grant.
The debate on what he described as the Government decision to drastically reduce the amount of funding available to local councils was initiated by Labour finance spokesman Cllr Justin Madders (Central and Westminster).
Cllr Madders said: “The reductions will pose a massive test to us all and we are willing to work together with all parties to face the challenge.”
Following the meeting, he claimed the savings needed were equivalent to the net annual budgets of both Ellesmere Port & Neston Borough Council and Chester City Council combined.
“That is why I offered to work with the other parties to see if we could meet this target in a sensible, all- party way,” he said. “This was a real opportunity lost.”
Finance chief and deputy leader Cllr Les Ford (Con, Frodsham and Helsby) told the meeting the reduction in Whitehall grant was ‘not a million miles’ from what had been expected.
He also revealed that inflation ‘is probably our biggest worry’.
“We will have a further problem if it does not come down,” said Cllr Ford.
Where grant was lost, the activity would not continue but there could be “difficult choices” if the council wished to continue with the service.
The education budget had been maintained in broad terms.
“Our record of saving over £50m over the past two years will stand us in good stead and help us to manage our way through this tough settlement,” said Cllr Ford.
“We will certainly handle this, I think, reasonably well.”
