Northumberland County Council's ruling Conservative administration has defended its planned budget after it was criticised by the leader of the Labour opposition.
The council unveiled its planned budget for the coming year on Friday, with £17 million in cuts earmarked and a significant 4.63% rise in council tax mooted
The budget also contained plans for a £223 million capital programme for the coming financial year - but that wasn't enough to save it from criticism.
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Labour leader Scott Dickinson urged the Tories to "think carefully" and questioned why residents would be "forced to pay more and get less."
Responding to Coun Dickinson's comments, a spokesman for the Northumberland Conservatives said: "Northumberland residents will never forget the shambles of a Labour administration of which Coun Dickinson was an integral part of, and the huge debt with which they saddled our county.
“Since the Conservatives took office in 2017 we have secured hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in our county. Be it the Northumberland Line, Hexham Heritage Action Zone, Borderlands Growth Deal, Blyth Future High-street and Town Deal, our extensive school build programme, and more besides.
"We are delivering a budget that will ensure our children get a great education and our economy thrives. In parallel our budget will protect our frontline services on which so many of our residents rely, whilst protecting those in our communities who need our help the most.
"Our council tax support scheme remains more generous than every Labour run council in the North East, and we have multiple programmes to help those who for whatever reason may find the struggle in the year to come.”
Coun Dickinson served as business chair in the previous Labour administration that was in charge of the county council between 2013 and 2017. The business chairman chairs full council meetings, but does not hold a portfolio and is not part of the cabinet.
The Conservatives have also insisted that the planned £17 million in savings will not impact frontline services. In recent weeks Coun Glen Sanderson has been explaining how the council is looking to modernise the way it works to deliver "better value for money" for the county's residents.
This will be achieved by a £9 million three year review, with some of the money spent on expert consultants with a view to saving at least £17 million from the budget "in perpetuity." The council has yet to decide exactly how this money will be saved.
In terms of investment into the county, the Northumberland Line - which has been in the works since 2013 - was allocated £34 million in Government funding in January 2021, with an anticipation the remaining expected cost of £166 million would also be Government funded.
The Hexham Heritage Action Zone will deliver a £2.4 million programme of improvements for the town centre, while the Borderlands deal is a £450 million deal spread across Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Northumberland County Council and Scottish Borders Council. The Deal is made up of £265 million from UK Government £85 million from the Scottish Government and £102.56 million from local partners.
Meanwhile the Blyth Future High Street and Town Deal is worth £70 million of Government funding. The council has built a number of new school buildings since the Conservatives came to power, including in Hexham and Ponteland, with plans to build more in Amble and Seaton Delaval.
Responding to the Tory criticism of the previous administration, Coun Dickinson pointed out that hundreds of millions were left in the council's reserves when the party left office in 2017.
The council's summary of accounts for 2016/17 show that the council had reserves at the time of £339.42 million, and owed £148.86 million. There was also £770.05 million labelled as bank overdraft and borrowing as well as £698.52 million in pensions and other liabilities.
In comparison, documents for the council's current budget show reserves of £285.25 million. The budget papers show that as of November 30 2022, the total external borrowing stood at £745.40 million.
The estimated operational boundary - where the council would expect its borrowing to be - for 2023/24 is £1.024 billion, rising to £1.233 billion in 2025/26 before falling back to £1.074 billion in 2026/27.
Coun Dickinson added: "This would be the Labour administration who had to deal with millions missing in Icelandic banks and a Tory Government who levelled £50 million in cuts at its front door in year one.
"Projected cuts for the Labour administration's first and second year totalled in excess of £70 million - but at the same time schools were built and infrastructure invested in. Borrowing at that point was cheap and the financial plan stood steady.
"We built new hospitals with loans to the NHS including Berwick, not to mention the Hexham PFI being bought out to save the NHS money. Are they saying they wouldn't have wanted any of these things to happen?"
Coun Dickinson's comments on Icelandic banks referred to issues in 2008, when Northumberland County Council held £16 million in two Icelandic banks during the country's financial crisis, with one of them nationalised.
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