Council boss asks for £10 million as balancing cost of adult social care leaves Shropshire roads in 'dire state'

Councillor Peter Nutting made the comments after he joined a delegation of the county's MPs in lobbying the Government over the situation.

He said the council needs an extra £10 million to cover the rising costs of adult social care, with current efforts to balance the budget hitting the authority's other departments, such as maintenance of the county's roads.

Councillor Nutting had joined Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski, North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, and Ludlow MP Philip Dunne for the Westminster meeting with Luke Hall – Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Homelessness.

They were also joined by Councillor Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council's cabinet member responsible for adult social care.

Councillor Nutting said he believed the Government would increase funding for the council, but said he was not sure it would be enough.

He said: "We have given them a long list of concerns and how much it will cost. Mr Hall is going away with the figures and we will meet again in a few weeks.

"One of the problems is we keep making our budget balanced but we can only do that by moving money around, like from highways or transport into adult social care. But the roads in Shropshire are in a dire state."

Councillor Nutting said they wanted the Government to shift its method of funding councils, arguing that rural counties lose out to urban authorities.

Concerned

He said: "The Government are about to consult on the Fairer Funding Review, which is about how the local government department splits up the money they are given. We are arguing that too much money is given to metropolitan boroughs instead of shire counties.

"They have said it will change the way money is given out. When the consultation goes in three or four weeks we are going to have another talk to see if we are happy or not. I suspect we will not be happy because what we get won't be enough.

"We had strong support from the Shropshire MPs at the meeting. We believe we will get some extra money but how much extra and will it solve our problems? Adult social services is going up by about £12 million a year. We are £10 million short in our budget. We are looking for around £10 million from the Government but ideally more.

"It is clear talking to other council leaders today that we are not the only ones with a problem. We have been banging on about this for a while.

"We have really good services but we are thinking about future funding. We think this year's budget is already secure but are concerned about next year's budget and how that will stack up.

"Our adult social care costs keep going up and in recent months there has also been problems with children's social care. More children are coming into care and this has an effect on problems with county lines and gangs in Shropshire.

"We are a prudent council and we want to make sure our future finances are secure."