Budget shows Tories cant be trusted

I will be joining my colleagues tomorrow to vote against this bonkers budget from this Conservative administration

I believe it is a bad deal for Medway residents, and one based on a flawed prospectus and a total lack of contact with the public that we are elected to serve.

The basis for this budget is a Local Grant settlement which saw a reduction of £14.3m to our annual budget from Eric Pickles; added up to last years cut of £23.5m and we see a Conservative government happy to take from Medway residents to pay for other more wealthy authorities in Surrey and Sussex. I simply can not sit back and accept that our residents have to pay for residents elsewhere who live in relative affluence.

I also believe that despite all the promises Medway continues to suffer from floor damping and our Council continues to have £5.9m of outstanding Council tax to collect. This is outrageous and unacceptable.

When Tories are talking about fiscal prudence the evidence stands for itself as this blog has regularly commented upon to much annoyance to those who would rather not allow any form of free speech. Sanctions are the preserve of the desperate; not the strong.

Despite almost a decade of Conservative-rule we enter another budget cycle having no apology for the failure to account for the previous year Council overspends on the bus station, school projects and other major works.

It is another balanced-budget on paper only; for we all know they will then break their own rules as soon as they vote it through.

Despite the Conservative Press there are measures within the budget which are positive, many of which largely lifted from our Local Election Manifesto and Motion submissions including;

• Freeze in Council Tax to help families who are struggling to balance family budgets
• £50,000 toward an anti-airport campaign (at last!!)
• Keeping the lowest Council Tax in Kent which is a legacy of Medway Labour on the creation of the Unitary Authority
• Funding for Free Swimming which the Tories scrapped in 2010
• Retention of Concessionary Travel for elderly residents
• Moves to introduce Medway Freedom Pass for young people; but we are concerned about future sustainability (as indicated last year)
• Continued investment to reduce unemployment including Apprenticeship schemes

I do not support and am concerned by measures in the budget:

• A cut to Sure Start funding which will impact families and young children
• Doubling of car parking charges. At a time when inner city centres are suffering fall in footfall
• Rise in rent charges. At a time when families are struggling to balance family books
• Cuts to Supporting Adult Budgets at a time when people are struggling to get a job
• £250,000 cut to road maintenance budget at a time when residents have had to stomach years of traffic jams on the Brook and in Chatham

The budget is about making choices about funding for services but it is also about consulting and taking residents with you. Do we pay for golf courses or do we pay for care services? Do we pay for better roads or more libraries?

Whilst the Tories can jump on asking the public to decide priorities I believe, and I believe the public believe, that we should be asked.

The Tory group in Medway claims to listen but in the last two months has rejected a referendum on an airport, rejected any consultation on the budget and failed to fairly consult, to my mind, on the closure to care homes.

In a period of austerity the public should be allowed to answer the tough questions and set the local priorities, with full awareness that a time of deficit reduction we all need to tighten our belts.

Some Tories will pretend it is not an either / or but to them they have chosen to make the cuts in particular areas; they have picked a focus.

If Labour were in power we would make different choices based not on the whims of a sunset clique, but on detailed consultations with the public.