Time to put party politics aside for good of the Valley
IT’S not often I find myself compelled to defend our local council, but remarks made by local MP Jake Berry proved one thing: Party politics has no place solving local government’s current problems.
Mr Berry used his Rossendale Free Press column to suggest residents don’t feel the planning department is ‘fit for purpose.’ This is based on the planning inspector overturning the council’s demand that a Helmshore family undo their long new driveway on the grounds that they didn’t have planning permission to do it.
It sounds bizarre, and to be quite frank, is. But as Mr Berry knows, planning matters aren’t determined by the council’s leadership, but by the interpretation of national rules laid down by government.
The interpretation was judged to be wrong in this case, but to say “this isn’t about lack of funding, it’s about lack of leadership from the controlling Labour group” is the sort of political point-scoring which benefits no-one.
Seeing as Mr Berry mentions spending, let’s have a look at that. Ever since the Tories began cutting local government budgets, they’ve argued that it’s not about spending cuts, it’s about how councils choose to spend the money they do have.
And there’s no doubt Rossendale Council has tripped up along the way in that regard. The Empty Homes Scandal is rightly mentioned by Mr Berry in this regard, and has cost the council millions.
But facts are facts, and when it comes to Rossendale Council’s spending woes, it cannot be argued that the problems stem from anywhere other than Westminster.
In 2010, council reports show the authority was due to get £6.27m from government to support services, and had an overall income of £11.8m to spend.
At the time, Rossendale Council described the funding settlement from Government as ‘disappointing.’ If only they had known what was to come!
For the next financial year, the council’s budget will be £9.1m, of which £5.1m will come from you and I as council tax payers. That means just £4m will come from government-related sources, or those the government is lining up to replace government grants, such as letting councils keep business rates.
In eight years, government council funding has fallen by more than 30 per cent. Just to stand still at an inflation rate of 2pc in that time, Rossendale Council should be getting £7.3m a year from government.
In 1993, the average home in Rossendale paid £140 a year for Rossendale Council services. In 2017, we paid £261 a year, after the first rise in seven years triggered when Government ceased issuing a grant which paid councils not to increase council tax.
Rossendale Council plans a near 3pc increase this year, taking it to £268. So we’re paying more, but getting less, because of the cuts imposed by Government.
It’s only healthy for democracy that political opponents scrutinise each other’s priorities, but suggesting Rossendale Council is not suffering from spending cuts, as Mr Berry seems to do, seems unfair. Especially when planning is a non-political function of the council anyway, as Mr Berry well knows.
Rossendale Council’s financial summary presented to councillors this week makes for grim reading. There is a £1m hole in the budget, caused by government cuts, despite a lot of savings made already by the council. Reserves can be used for now - but what happens after that?
The spending cuts thrust upon the council by the government are pushing the council to the brink, and the services we rely on are at risk as a result. As we’ve seen since Lancashire County Council went from red to blue, changes in leadership don’t solve the financial problems, they just change how the savings are made.
Only one person in Rossendale can directly influence how much the council gets to spend each year, and that’s Jake Berry. He’s our MP, and has voted for the Government budgets which included the painful savings thrust upon local government.
Making councils save money is a cheap trick for Government because it saves them the pain of deciding how the cuts are made.
Rossendale deserves better - and we need a loud voice in Westminster shouting up for more funding for our councils. It’s time to put party politics aside for the good of the area.