Trafford Council tax to increase by 4.99% as £2m to be cut

The move was approved by the authority’s full council meeting on Wednesday as it approved a net revenue budget of £217.83m for 2024/25.

Cuts have been forced by a £17.8m hole in the authority’s finances which has prompted the council to dip into its dwindling cash reserved to the tune of £5.58m and target ‘income generation’ and ‘service delivery savings’ adding up to £9.52m.

The money the council gets from central government in combined grants will rise by £2.3m from last year to £46.499m.

A further £0.775m in surplus council tax payments from this year will also support the forthcoming budget.

Children’s services cuts include a ‘review of placements for looked after children’ which will save £500,000; a ‘continuation of the service redesign’, saving £50,000; a ‘review’ of the ‘directorate management team’ saving £104,000; and a complete review of the service, saving £97,000.

In adult services, a total of £1.4m will be saved, pulled from its weight management service (£28,000); a review of bad debt provision (£50,000); a reduction in the ‘demographic growth budget (£200,000); changes to services for people with a learning disability and/or autism (£300,000) and a review of ‘reablement services’ (£600,000).

Fees and charges for services like nursing home placements, day care transport, home care, pendant alarms, administration of funerals and estates, as well as car parking, allotments and waste management will go up.

The Labour-controlled council is blaming government austerity over the last 14 years which means it is facing a further budget gap of £29.6m in the following two financial years.

The budget has been approved against the backdrop of complaints from Trafford town hall leaders that it is among the 20 lowest funded local authorities in England and that it has the second lowest council tax in Greater Manchester behind Wigan.

Executive member for finance change and governance Cllr Jo Harding said she was presenting Labour’s sixth balanced budget to the council.

But she said: “I do this with cautious trepidation, as I know, and we all know, the parlous state of local government funding and what lies ahead in relation to balancing future budgets.”

She said that since last year’s budget ‘nothing has changed’ in the Government’s approach towards local government finance. “In fact, things have got worse,” she said.

Cllr Harding said that almost one in five councils – including Cheshire East – were likely to be issuing Section 114 notices – where authorities are legally preventing from making any new spending commitments because they are effectively bankrupt.

She alluded to the Government’s Household Support Fund – aimed at helping the most vulnerable in society pay for essentials – which he described as ‘a lifeline to many’ but which is due to end next month.

“One thing that is consistent is this Labour council’s approach to getting it right,” she said. “We didn’t just heave a sigh of relief following last year’s budget council [when the budget was balanced] when we got it over the line.

“We went straight back to work, considering all our options, facing reality and prepared to make tough decisions and to carry on fighting and lobbying for what is right for our residents, staff and communities.”

She said that since 2010, Trafford council had ‘endured’ £288m of cuts, a real terms reduction of 63pc.

Cllr Harding said that an independent body brought in to find out why the council was among the lowest funded had said the authority had continued to run its finances in a ‘mature manner’.

“But, they said, despite this, we will continue to lose ground,” she said. “A recent study from the Institute of Fiscal Studies has identified Trafford to have one of the largest shortfalls in funding compared to our need.

“Trafford has the lowest spending power of all 36 metropolitan districts.”

She said reliance on locally raised taxes to fund local services [some 60 per cent] places ‘a significant burden’ on households, ‘particularly during a time of economic uncertainty’.

“Council tax is not the solution for meeting long-term pressures caused by high demand for services such as social care,” she said.

The council has also approved its capital spending strategy for 2024/25 of £152.2m.

Cllr Harding said Trafford has continued its progress towards becoming a carbon-neutral authority by 2038 with an investment of £15.45m in its capital spending programme, including £12.6m for active travel under the Mayor’s Challenge Fund and £1.13m for improving efficiency in Trafford’s street lights.

She said there would be continued investment into the highways, the ongoing refurbishment of Altrincham Leisure Centre and the progression of Partington Sports Village. 

Cllr Harding pointed to a £43.08m investment in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in Trafford’s schools and a further £9.48m on the disabled facilities grant which will enable people to live independently at home for longer. 

She said a further £2.86m would be invested in a local authority housing fund to provide long-term sustainable accommodation for Ukraine and Afghan families.

Some £3m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund was also being invested in Longford Park in Stretford.

Conservative opposition leader Cllr Nathan Evans responded by accusing Labour of ‘manifold failings’ over a ‘woeful six years of epic waste and mismanagement’.

He pointed to data pointing out Trafford was the worst performing borough in Greater Manchester with 22pc fewer potholes fixed than the year before.

Cllr Evans accused council leader Cllr Tom Ross of producing ‘hand-wringing Facebook videos’ explaining how he was going to spend a 4.99pc council tax rise ‘with very little to show for it’.

He said: “Labour’s vision for Trafford, according to their own budget report, is ‘where all residents, communities and business prosper…all our residents will have access to quality learning training and jobs’.

“But they don’t do they, because we don’t have enough school places in the right places. Residents’ children are being sent to schools miles away, out of the borough.”

He also criticised the ruling group for not offering free parking over the festive period when ‘businesses could’ve been helped in all our town centres’.

However, the budget was passed, while Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green Party amendments were all defeated.