Telford & Wrekin Council leader urges MPs to oppose funding settlement

Telford & Wrekin Council’s leader and finance chief have called on the borough’s two MPs to show “real leadership” and vote against the proposed final government funding settlement for councils.

Council leader Councillor Shaun Davies and Councillor Lee Carter, cabinet member for Finance, have written a joint letter to Telford MP Lucy Allan and Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard.

The letter highlights that the council faces a 23 per cent (£4.3m) cut in its Revenue Support Grant next year – followed by a 30 per cent (a further £4.3m) cut the year after.

“It would require a 21 per cent Council Tax increase alone to cover our funding shortfall and the additional investment we are having to make in Adult Social Care and Children’s Safeguarding,” says the letter sent by Councillor Davies and Councillor Carter.

“The purpose of our letter is to appeal directly to you to support your residents and vote against the final settlement if it is unchanged from the provisional one when it is considered in Parliament.

“We really hope you will join with other MPs to lobby for a better funding approach for these key local government services.”

The letter adds: “This is an opportunity for you to exercise real leadership and to put the interests of our residents first.

“As Telford celebrates its 50th birthday, it is hard to conceive that you could support more cuts to vital local services.”

Telford & Wrekin Council’s proposed 3.2% council tax increase would be equivalent to an extra 58p a week for the average borough Band B home.

The majority of the increase is a 2% increase to support adult social care that Government has already assumed in its funding settlement that councils like Telford & Wrekin will make.

The remaining 1.2% increase, equivalent to a Government grant councils had received to freeze council tax but now stopped, will support other services, while budgets for both vulnerable adults and children will both be increased but further savings of over £6m will need to be made next year on top of the £110m pa budget savings already made by the Council.