South Gloucestershire Council’s ruling Conservatives have been accused of “pretending they can solve” a £29.3m budget shortfall “caused” by their own party’s government. The authority’s cabinet agreed a raft of proposed cuts on Monday, December 5, despite many of them lacking details, however they include green waste collections rising from £30 to £55 a year, dimming street lights and reducing staffed library hours.
Opposition councillors aired concerns about the draft 2023/24 budget, which will be agreed at full council in February, but the ruling group and officers had little more to say about the savings required to plug the deficit, such as the impact of a smaller street-care team on pothole repair times, other than many were still being worked through. Tory cabinet members said the squeeze on costs was caused by Vladimir Putin and high interest rates rather than the government and that the authority was in a better position than most because of “prudent financial management”.
They said most frontline services would be unaffected and car parking would remain free. But Lib Dem Cllr Mike Drew told the meeting that the draft budget was dependent on the local government financial settlement which Whitehall had yet to announce, and that it was likely to be far less favourable than hoped.
Read more: South Gloucestershire Council green waste collection charges to nearly double amid £29m gap
He said: “There appears to be absolutely no criticism of the government mismanagement of the economy. South Gloucestershire will have to put up with it and yet you go along and pretend that you can solve all those problems which our central government is causing.”
Council leader Conservative Cllr Toby Savage replied: “The report talks about how inflation is the principal driver of the council’s worsening financial position. It has nothing to do with the mini-Budget, it has everything to do with the fact we have a global war and that is playing havoc with the global economy and the prices we are all having to pay.”
Cllr Drew asked whether the savings were properly thought through or were “waving a finger in the air and wishing for something to happen”. Chief finance officer Nina Philippidis said many of the ideas were put forward by department managers and would deliver the same level of service for residents for less money.
“They are already doing work in the background, hence why you’ve got quite specific figures referenced,” she said. Asked about potential redundancies as part of a £641,000 cut from the council’s trading arm Integra, which supplies services to schools, cabinet member for corporate resources Cllr Ben Burton said: “I’m going to be very cautious in my comments in this forum because obviously this line of the budget very much reflects members of staff who are within Integra.
“We have for some time been under significant pressure with Integra in terms of the services they can deliver, in particular in terms of staff pay and also vacancies for a variety of different roles that have been hard to fill. That’s very common with other industries, whether it’s local authorities or businesses finding it difficult to fill certain posts.
“So when we’ve been looking at Integra we’ve been looking at ensuring the service can run in a profitable way but also, most importantly where we are supporting schools with a range of services, that we can do it in a way that supports schools in the best possible method.” Lib Dem group leader Cllr Claire Young said £400,000 cuts to the council tax reduction scheme from 2024 could harm the “most vulnerable members of our society”.
Ms Philippidis said no changes had been made to the scheme for several years and that there were multiple options that needed working through ahead of public consultation. Lib Dem Cllr Jon Lean said he was concerned that response times to fix potholes would rise with £384,000 cuts to street care.
Cllr Burton said: “The external pressures being placed on this council but also on councils throughout the country – the war in Ukraine, high interest rates, the local government pay award and increased demand for our services during the cost-of-living crisis – has meant we have had to look carefully at our resources and our budgets to ensure we continue to provide the services that residents would expect. We have done that in a very careful way and in which we mitigate and reduce the effect it has on frontline services.
“We are still maintaining free parking in South Gloucestershire car parks – that might seem a small thing but if you’re a business on the high street, if you’re one of those cafes or shops which rely on footfall, then it is not a small thing, it actually ensures our communities thrive and high streets prosper. It is the prudent financial management of this Conservative administration that has put the council in a better position compared with other councils and we can protect frontline services.”
The second stage of public consultation into the budget has opened and runs until January 15 here.
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