Proposed by Councillor Steve Foulkes

Seconded by  Councillor Simon Holbrook 

Council recognises the hard work of the last two years that has gone into creating a sustainable budget for this Council, in line with the Council’s Corporate Plan, with a projected gap for 2010/11 of just 5.5m, (assuming a 4% increase in Council Tax), which is much lower than projected gaps in previous years.

Council further recognises that this achievement has placed the Council in a much healthier position to face the consequences of the current global recession, which will affect all local authorities in the coming years, as the next Comprehensive Spending Review takes account of the country’s changed financial circumstances.

Council notes that Wirral’s projected budget for 2011-14 takes the impact of the recession into account and currently shows a deficit of between £50m and £67m over the three years.

Council understands that, if Wirral residents are to continue to show the current high levels of satisfaction with the area in which they live, it will be essential to find new ways of providing the best possible services at the lowest possible costs and that these ways may be different from the way in which services have been traditionally delivered in the past.

Council therefore:

1.  Asks all Chief Officers to prepare for the years ahead by doing everything in their power to find new, cost effective ways of delivering good services to the people of Wirral.

2.  Calls on the Conservatives locally to explain, were they ever to achieve their stated ambition of running an administration, exactly how they will meet their financially reckless opposition promises, and the costs of their continued opposition to financially beneficial changes, without unscrupulously raiding reserves and balances and completely wrecking the Council’s finances as they did the last time they had any power.

3.  Calls on the Conservative members to explain exactly how they square their generous spending plans with the calls from their party nationally for a 10% cut in Council spending.

AMENDMENT

Proposed  by Cllr Jeff Green

Seconded  by Cllr Lesley Rennie

Delete all and insert:

This Council notes the inconsistency between Wirral’s Labour Group Leader, who has warned of cuts, and a Prime Minister who has insisted that spending will not be cut despite evidence in Treasury documents that there would be a ‘reduction in medium-term spending’.

Further, this Council notes the Council Leader’s implicit threats to cut services further. Council expresses disquiet that neither the Labour nor Liberal Democrats in Wirral have learnt anything from their catastrophic handling of the Strategic Asset Review.

Council resolves that any savings which are made at Wirral Council should be dedicated to preserving front line services and protecting Wirral’s most vulnerable.

Council notes that the Conservatives in Wirral have, over the last decade, a consistent record of proposing below average council tax increases, including at the last budget, and that it was the Conservatives who have fought hardest to protect front line services such as libraries, youth clubs and school crossing patrols under the current round of budget cuts.

The amendment was put and lost (25:38) (One abstention).  The motion was put and carried (38:25)(One abstention).

Resolved (38:25:1) –

Council recognises the hard work of the last two years that has gone into creating a sustainable budget for this Council, in line with the Council’s Corporate Plan, with a projected gap for 2010/11 of just 5.5m, (assuming a 4% increase in Council Tax), which is much lower than projected gaps in previous years.

Council further recognises that this achievement has placed the Council in a much healthier position to face the consequences of the current global recession, which will affect all local authorities in the coming years, as the next Comprehensive Spending Review takes account of the country’s changed financial circumstances.

Council notes that Wirral’s projected budget for 2011-14 takes the impact of the recession into account and currently shows a deficit of between £50m and £67m over the three years.

Council understands that, if Wirral residents are to continue to show the current high levels of satisfaction with the area in which they live, it will be essential to find new ways of providing the best possible services at the lowest possible costs and that these ways may be different from the way in which services have been traditionally delivered in the past.

Council therefore:

1.  Asks all Chief Officers to prepare for the years ahead by doing everything in their power to find new, cost effective ways of delivering good services to the people of Wirral.

2.  Calls on the Conservatives locally to explain, were they ever to achieve their stated ambition of running an administration, exactly how they will meet their financially reckless opposition promises, and the costs of their continued opposition to financially beneficial changes, without unscrupulously raiding reserves and balances and completely wrecking the Council’s finances as they did the last time they had any power.

3.  Calls on the Conservative members to explain exactly how they square their generous spending plans with the calls from their party nationally for a 10% cut in Council spending.