‘Parred back to statutory services’

The council’s lead member for finance stated that he is ‘delighted’ to have been able to draft a balanced budget for 2021/22, despite having to make ‘tough’ decisions.

Past financial mismanagement and the costs of COVID-19, estimated to rise to more than £9million, have resulted in a budget draft that see ‘nice to have’ services reduced.

Cllr David Hilton (Con, Ascot and Sunninghill) said: “In setting a budget you know you are going to make some tough decisions but I set about it in a way that was robust and looked at risk. There were no arbitrary decisions.”

If approved by cabinet on Thursday, the draft would then go to a public consultation.

Cllr Hilton added: “We do expect changes between now and the published budget. If there’s more money coming in we might take some savings out. If there’s no more funding that comes forward, we are in a position where we will listen to the residents’ priorities and if they would much prefer this to something else, that’s something that we will certainly look at.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Lynne Jones (Ind, Old Windsor), leader of the local independents, was scathing of the paper.

She said: “I’m worried, some of these cuts will impact vulnerable people.

“The political decision to lower council tax has left us so weak, there isn’t a choice any more.

“This is a balanced budget, so if any people don’t want some things, then savings have to be made somewhere else.

“This is decimating the ‘nice to have’ services – it’s pretty much parred back to statutory services, which is what a Section 114 would be anyway.

“For such an affluent area, with all the money that’s come in, we shouldn’t be in this situation.”