The thousands of new homes being built in Knowsley has stopped the need for council cuts, according to a senior borough councillor.
Cabinet member for resources, Cllr Jayne Aston made the remarks at a meeting of Knowsley’s full council, which took place at Huyton municipal buildings tonight, July 20.
In the meeting, which was punctuated by periodic applause for councillors giving speeches on topics ranging from levelling up bids to regeneration and the borough’s “ambitious growth strategy”, Cllr Aston lauded Knowsley ’s 7.8% growth in households.
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Responding to a question about recently released census date, Cllr Aston said Knowsley was on track for its target of building 8,000 new homes over the next ten years, with thousands already under development.
With over 150,000 people living in the borough and a household growth rate twice that of elsewhere in the region, the cabinet member said this was due to the “brave decisions we’ve taken together [which] should be celebrated.”
Cllr Aston said that the over 65 population in the borough was also growing significantly, a situation anticipated to continue over the coming years.
She said: “Services are already planning to respond to the needs of the older community.”
Referring to the rate of population growth, Cllr Aston said: “I want to reassure residents who may be concerned about pressure on local services [from the population growth].
“I fully understand the concerns and from very beginning have taken this into account.”
She aded: “Understanding and mitigating potential impacts have been a crucial part of our work.”
Referring to the East of Halewood development scheme, which will bring over 1300 new houses into the area, Cllr Aston spoke of the scheme as an example of how pressures from new developments are being offset – with £13m in developer contributions to fund new infrastructure and school places in the area.
She said the large scale of housebuilding has enabled the borough to “protect and deliver the most important council services despite massive government cuts” due to an increase in council tax revenue.
Cllr Aston said: “If [growth] had been the same as elsewhere, the council would have been £4 million per annum worse off and would have needed service cuts to have a balance budget.”
Concluding, Cllr Aston added: “I dread to think how we would have managed without the increase, what impact there would be on communities.”
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