DRAFT budget proposals outlining how Labour plans to spend hundreds of millions of pounds over the next two years have been described as “ducking difficult decisions”.
Papers being discussed at council committees in the next week, including Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, show proposals for savings of several million pounds across a range of council services. However, Leader of the Conservatives Cllr Phil Anderson has criticised the plans, which consist of lots of small cuts across a range of budgets, rather than a proper strategy to control overall spending.
Cllr Anderson said “Once again, it looks like Labour are ducking the difficult decisions. I have criticised them every year for failing to make any real reforms in the high spending areas, and once again their proposals look to be tinkering around the edges.
“Labour have resisted reform of Thurrock’s centralised Education department, refused to relinquish control of loss-making leisure facilities, and paid lip service to devolving decision making power to communities. Their proposals instead include plans to cut community policing and environment services, and “savings” that will cost more in the long run, like cuts to the fraud team.
“I hope that as more proposals come to light in the next few weeks the overall budget will be something residents and councillors alike can agree on, rather than yet another “Doctor Dolittle” budget which delays any real reform until we reach crisis point.”
Mr Anderson perhaps you should think on as to why any cuts have to be made. The council have no chance of setting a budget it would like to set due to the large sum of money cut from its central government grants.
If cuts from Council near Bankruptcy in 2008 had not been made before current cuts then Council may have had something to play with. There are no more savings there are just cuts and they are being made as palatable as possible. But please all parties no more Council Tax Gimmic cuts – the last 13 years of Gimmic cuts have destroyed Thurrock Council’s long term ability to financially plan and invest effectively.
The last published set of accounts for Thurrock council actually showed an increase in expenditure for 2011-12. Is the Comrade intending to spend the reserves and then get kicked out of power so that he can blame the Tories, the usual Labour trick. No doubt it will take them until November again to pubnlish their accounts so I suppose we’ll have to wait until then.