Shropshire Council party leaders will unite to tackle £27 million funding gap

Members of the council's cabinet yesterday agreed to £10 million of savings to try to plug the gap. But the council must still find £17 million which might come from "high-risk" cuts.

A further £14 million will need to be found the following year, the report said.

Council leader Malcolm Pate told yesterday's meeting at Shirehall that the financial strategy set out for the 2017/18 financial year looked bleak. But he called on opposition leaders to help solve the problem.

Members approved two sets of cuts in areas including foster care, refuse, recycling, parks and public transport – all rated green and amber on a traffic light rating system for risk.

But councillors will have to find a further £17 million, forcing it to consider cutting areas including adults and children's services. Those services are rated red – making them the most risky areas to cut funding.

Councillor Pate said: "It does ask us in the recommendations to approve the green and amber cuts.

"When you look at our financial situation going on, the amber and green savings will be the least of our worries and it is likely we will have to get into the red savings, which means doing a lot of things we wouldn't normally be doing.

"It is a lot of things we wouldn't want to be doing."

Councillor Roger Evans, Liberal Democrat group leader, said: "The paper does make for dismal reading.

"I note that after seven years of Conservative administration and all the cuts that have already been made it would be a 17 per cent increase in council tax next year and in 2018/19 another eight per cent increase in council tax to meet the expenditure set out in the report."

The financial strategy report said the savings needed to wipe out the £17 million gap would be the equivalent of a 17 per cent council tax increase.

But Councillor Pate said this was not what the council planned to do, but an indication of how large the gap was.

He said: "It is just an indication of what we would need. It doesn't mean we would be increasing council tax by 17 per cent.

"We still have not finished with Greg Clark. We are still writing to him about the inequality and unfairness of the distribution formula.

"We are also looking at other ways we can mitigate any cuts. But it is an ongoing document, it is work in progress and we are asked to make some progress."

The council welcomed Mr Clark, Secretary of State for Local Government, last week and pushed the MP for a fairer funding deal.

Councillors believe that the formula used to decide how much each council gets from central Government gives rural counties like Shropshire a raw deal.

Councillor Alan Mosley, Labour group leader, said: "I think that previous reports similar to this have always been presented as a worse case scenario. This worst case scenario is the scenario. It is an appalling report in terms of the outcomes presented to us. It shows a real catastrophe happening within public services and the level of supply to residents in Shropshire.

"I am also concerned that we are using green and amber as being something that doesn't matter, that we can do this and no-one will notice.

"People are noticing. There are massive reductions in many of our services."

In response, Councillor Pate said: "I am quite happy to set a meeting up between me and opposition leaders to progress through this budget and firm it up, and ask what your contributions and ideas would be to improve the situation.

"We don't want negative criticism, we want positive contribution and anything you can bring to the table.

"We are forced to do things we don't want to do."

Councillor Evans said: "I am a Shropshire councillor, I want what is best for Shropshire.

"What this paper is is really dire. I would welcome any chance to work with whoever to improve things for Shropshire.

"We need to work together otherwise it will become a wilderness."

The council agreed the report in line with all recommendations except one concerning the amount pensioners will be left with once they have made a contribution to their non-residential care.

Councillors went against officers' recommendation which would have seen the council keep all of an annual increase on pensions and pension credit.

Instead, councillors decided to impose a move that will see the authority £70,000 a year worse off, but vulnerable pensioners will instead benefit from keeping that money.

The decisions made at yesterday's meeting will go to full council to be discussed and finalised at a future date.