Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Graham, Tom and Ian
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What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Investing in Stockport – have your say on budget cuts
by Lib Dem team on 22 December, 2014
As everyone knows these days, the money local councils have to spend has been falling as the national Government seeks to deal with the rising national debt. Since 2010 we’ve have to cut Stockport Council’s spending by £54 million a year and we’ve another £65 million to cut from our annual spending by 2018. (All the main political parties have made clear they’ll continue cutting local government, though our cuts may be higher if Labour get in as they’ve suggested cutting places like Stockport more so they can reduce the cuts for higher-funded councils like Manchester and Tameside).
We’ve called our plan Investing in Stockport. Despite the cut in what we can spend on services each year, we’re investing more than ever into infrastructure investment: roads, public transport and buildings that will serve the borough for decades to come. We’ve also been looking differently at the money we spend each year: instead of asking “What shall we cut?” we’ve asked “How can we best spend the money we have left?”.
We want to know what you think about our proposals for the next two years. Whether you just want a quick overview, or to look through the detailed proposals line by line, all the information is available from a single page on our website. There’s also a budget simulator so you can have a go at setting your own budget for the Council.
Well I’ve completed the survey whilst disagreeing with the main reason behind it. Most informed people know that Osborne’s policy is a busted flush and well known economists are suggesting that a better policy would be to reduce the deficit over 20-25 years rather than 5.
Not sure how an economy is supposed to grow in times of austerity without accruing massive credit card debt.
Thanks Alan – councils just have to produce a balanced budget, regardless of the policies being followed. We know that all the main parties want to further cut local government spending after 2015: Osborne inherited Labour’s plans for cuts in 2010 and whoever wins in May will carry on cutting.
The one area local authorities can spend more is our capital borrowing (as long as we can service the debt) and that’s something Stockport is doing more than most with massive investments in our infrastructure.
If Stockport Council can cut their budget by a total of £120 million – why have they not done this before – and I will tell you why – each department trys to spend all its budget – continually expanding their departments and taking on more staff – which means that the men at the toop and their aides get inflated increases in their salaries – and all the time trying to take on jobs that they dont need to – the biggest threat to small shopkeepers is the massive increase in their rates to the point where many of them can’t cope any more – the answer is to cut the rates of all shopkeepers with one shop by half – and thern you won’t see as many for sale/to rent signs in our High Streets – and put the extra on the big Supermarkets. MR. S. POWELL
Budgets work on the basis that spend is identified, then approved or not. So with an identified need, yes, the objective will always be to meet that need by, er, spending the budget. Nobody ever got a budget approved on the basis of ” can I have 12 more staff” alone- even SMBC!
Not sure what you mean, Alan. Local authorities get the budget and have to decide how to spend it, not the other way round.
The way the Lib Dems in Stockport are approaching the challenge of balancing the budget is to look at how we can most effectively meet our objectives with the money we now have – and that isn’t always the same way we’ve done things in the past.