'Shropshire Council won't survive without a fairer deal from government' - Leader's stark warning over council's future

That is the stark warning from the council's new Liberal Democrat leader, Heather Kidd, who is urging opposition leaders to join her in her fight.

Councillor Heather Kidd said that every four in five pounds that taxpayers spend goes towards social care in Shropshire.

“Rural counties, particularly ours, have significantly been underfunded for a very long time,” said Councillor Kidd.

“People move here, and 15 years later they need social care.

“This has been a significant problem over the last 20, 30 years and we’re now reaching a point where it is very difficult to actually make ends meet.

“Delivering those services over rural areas costs a lot of money, especially when we have fuel prices the way they are. Sending carers out 25 and 40 miles to do a few drops, seeing people and travelling on for another half an hour costs money that doesn’t have to be found in the more urban areas.

“We will be running quite a campaign on this because we cannot wait for the 2028 review of funding of social care that the Government has put in place.

“That review is welcome but it’s just taking too long, and for many councils like us, we will not survive unless we are very vocal about the issues we have across the board. They are statutory issues, service we have to deliver, and we work really hard with partners to deliver them at the lowest possible cost.

“We are now in a position that four in five pounds that the council payer provides us is spent on social care. I do not want the people who require social care and have run out of their own funds to be penalised by the public for us not being able to deliver other services because of the costs.

“I am sure the opposition will join us in lobbying the Government to make sure that we get a fairer deal out of this because we can’t exist without.”

North Shropshire's Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan has also criticised the Government for failing to mention rural areas in its spending review, adding that the Liberal Democrats want its social care review to be finished within the year.

“People in Shropshire were failed by the Conservatives and now they are being let down by Labour,” said Mrs Morgan.

“The spending review included nothing for Shropshire, nothing for rural areas and no serious plan to fix social care.

“The NHS and council services will not be fixed until social care is sorted and growth will not be achieved until the Government backs small businesses.

“Rachel Reeves promised growth but all she has delivered is disappointment.”

Meanwhile the Labour MP for Shrewsbury insisted social care is a major priority for the Government but said it needs cross-party support.

Julia Buckley said: “The announcements for transport provided increase investment for all local transport plans (every council) as well as some individual capital project announcements, some of which were in urban areas of population, but many were in rural areas too such as Hereford, Worcester and across North Wales (all of which helps public transport infrastructure investment for Shropshire).

“The separate issue of tackling social care is a major priority of this government, which is why we have commissioned the cross-party review into social care, which will report back its interim findings already next year.

“The sooner we can secure cross-party support from our Conservative and Lib Dem colleagues, the sooner we can progress this agenda to a deliverable model fit for purpose.”