Councillors call for Telford MPs to help in fairer funding fight

Telford & Wrekin Council will demand the Government reviews its policy on slashing budgets for local authorities following a notice of motion tabled by Councillor Lee Carter, cabinet member for finance, at a meeting of the full council.

The motion, which called for the support of Lucy Allan and Mark Pritchard to help protect frontline services, was approved by a majority vote – with 28 councillors voting for and 23 against.

"Difficult decisions" will have to be made by Telford & Wrekin Council as it is forced to cut a further £30million from its budget over the next three years, it was warned today.

Following the release of Chancellor George Osborne's Comprehensive Spending Review, the council has said it faces "unprecedented challenges".

Telford & Wrekin Council has already cut £80 million from its budget since 2010 and says the Mt Osborne's Autumn Statement has reaffirmed expectations that it will now be forced to cut a further £30 million. The council now hopes that further details of the implications for its budget will be issued by Government later in December.

It was confirmed that deep cuts to local government will continue, with a cut of £6.1billion to the government grant over the life of this parliament.

Now, the council says changes will need to be made to the way key services are run and deep cuts will have to be made, with running the number of services it operates at the moment impossible to continue.

Councillor Lee Carter, cabinet member for finance, said the next wave of Government cuts would have the greatest effect yet on frontline services and this time would hit the community hard.

The council has continued income generation initiatives such as its solar project. The 15,000-panel solar farm at Wheat Leasows was switched on at the start of the year and is on course to generate a £150,000 profit during its first 12 months. It also has other investments and streams of income and says it is working to attract inward investment to help protect frontline services as well as looking at new ways of generating income

Councillor Carter said: "We've been very straight with our local community – sadly we will have some very difficult decisions to make – ones that we had hoped we would never have to make but the scale of cuts in Government grant mean we are now left with no choice."

Councillor Carter said the council had already cut £80 million from its budget since 2010 and now faced £30 million of further cuts over the next three years.

He told the meeting: "We need to work in unity together with our MPs and call on the Government.

"Enough is enough. We demand fairer funding for Telford."

He said the amount of senior management posts had already been halved, there had been a 35 per cent reduction in "middle management" posts, a £7m reduction in back office costs per year and a saving of £2m a year on reduced accommodation costs.

Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for business, neighbourhood and customer services, agreed the council should work together with MPs to get a fair deal for Telford.

He said: "Telford hasn't had a fair deal for the last five years."

Supporting the motion, Councillor Shirley Reynolds added that she was deeply concerned about the savage cuts by the Government.

She said: "I'm not prepared to cut services without fighting for fairer funding for Telford.

"I call on both MPs to lobby the Government hard and get more funding for the town."

Councillor Bill Tomlinson said it was common sense to vote for the motion and make the Government realise that if it wanted a safe and civilised community it could not keep taking.

Councillor Peter Scott also put forward a notice of motion at the meeting calling for councillors to set aside political differences and concentrate on what is best for the borough during this financially difficult time.

It was unanimously backed by all councillors.

Council leader Kuldip Sahota agreed with the motion stating there should be 'no political point scoring'.

Addressing councillors earlier in the meeting, he said they should be under no illusions about the scale of the challenges ahead, but added: "This administration is working hard day and night and is leaving no stone unturned to find a solution to these Government cuts."

He said an extensive public consultation would be held in the new year.