Breckland Labour Group response to Council budget

BRECKLAND COUNCIL BUDGET RESPONSE BY 

Mr Chairman, as has been covered in the press, the Breckland Labour Group reluctantly supports the proposal to increase Breckland’s share of the Council Tax. Reluctantly, because we do this out of necessity, not desire. Necessity because otherwise, we believe that services across our district would be cut to an intolerable level. Services that the public have told us, either through public meetings or separate surgeries, that these are services that they wish to see safeguarded and protected.

We do this of course in the knowledge, that despite the Government mantra of “we’re all in this together”, that come the new financial year, hundreds of millionaires up and down the country will actually be saving money, that’s right, paying in less, as a result of changes brought about by this Conservative led Government, whilst some of the poorest in our society will continue to suffer disproportionately, including residents here in Breckland, this is not fair and it is not right.

Take for example the young woman that contacted me recently; she has two young children of her own, she suffers from anxiety and depression, she’s a tenant of a 3 bedroom house, although she needed and sought a 2 bedroom property but there were none available so she was told to accept the 3 bedroom, or be removed from the list. She’s only just getting by each month and managing her outgoings, she will be hit hard by the 14% less that she will receive in housing benefit through the new bedroom tax, but she is trapped as there are no 2 bedroom properties for her to move to, and couldn’t afford the moving costs even if there was somewhere to go.

Moving to more local issues, we are naturally very pleased with the proposals in relation to car parking charges across the District and I am sure that this will be a very welcome relief for many business and shoppers. Who knows what effect the many thousands of signatures that were collected as part of the Breckland Labour Group led petition had? But there’s at 15,000 reasons there why not to introduce such charges. I’d like to thank the very many people from across the political spectrum that supported our efforts with this petition – it just goes to show that people power really can make a difference.

Regarding the specific budget proposals, we would like to propose three alternatives to the budget:

1  Firstly. House building: Without doubt one of the most significant challenges that this district faces is in relation to a lack of affordable and social homes. This challenge is surely set to increase and this budget fails to address this need in any meaningful way. Mr Chairman, as you know only too well, if you do not have good quality housing, the education of your children can suffer, your ability to access employment can suffer, and your health may also suffer. We would like to propose that money received through the new homes bonus, and right to buy income is ring-fenced to fund a Breckland Council led house building programme, together, with the utilization of Council owned land – the aim would be for the scheme to become self financing over time – with additional income as a result from future new homes bonus and of course the rental income from the properties themselves. This Council can take the lead in addressing this very real issue and follow other Councils such as Stevenage and Norwich in supporting their residents

2.   Secondly, this Council should be leading by example; the information contained within your packs in relation to this Council’s level of Special Responsibility Allowance clearly demonstrates that we are not doing that. Whilst I respect the work that has been carried out, it is clear to me that this Council’s allowances are out of line with neighbouring authorities and detached from the cutbacks that we must all make. Take the allowance for Leader of the Councillor for example, almost £21,000 annually, compared to just £9,000 for the Leader of South Norfolk, and £10,000 for the Leader of St Edmunsbury’s. Cabinet members receiving £11,000 – double that of neighbouring authorities. The total annual amount for special responsibility allowances for this Council is £140,000 per annum – we must lead by example, and we are therefore  proposing a 20% cut to this, my own allowance included, this proposal in totality would save £28,000 per annum. We are afterall, all in this together, and if the public are to feel the pain, so must we.

3.   Finally: support for our high streets: The car parking charges debate revealed a number of things, but most importantly it brought to the forefront a very real issue – our high streets up and down the Country are struggling and Breckland is not immune from this, they need our support. The £28,000 saved from the cut in special responsibility allowances could be re-directed towards supporting our high streets across the district and used to pump prime additional funding so that it is used to maximum affect.

Don’t just take my lead, look to neighbouring authorities, Conservative led it must be said - Forest Heath for example, immediately matched the £10,000 that was given to Brandon from the Portas Pilots scheme and in its budget last week South Norfolk Council agreed to a new market town initiative, fighting back to secure jobs and boost economic activity. We should be doing the same.

Thank-you.