Council disappointed in Labour's first budget

West Berkshire's Council Leader Jeff Brooks has expressed the council's disappointment in Labour's first budget announced yesterday, saying that residents and businesses will suffer as a result.

Councillor Brooks said,

"Whilst there are a range of measures that provide some help and relief to the Council's severe financial pressures, overall, we are very disappointed in Rachel Reeves's first budget.

"The cancellation of the winter fuel allowance will hit older people in need very hard and put increasing pressure on our services; similarly, our local businesses face increased costs to employ and pay their workers."

However, Councillor Brooks welcomed some elements of the budget saying,

"I welcome the increased funding for schools and social care, but our pressures in these areas are very severe and the measures announced do not go far enough to provide the relief we need. The additional money for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision should have a positive impact on our growing High Needs Block[i] but the exponential cost growth in this area continues, with big impacts on the costs of servicing the associated growth in debt and uncertainty around when and how the Government will expect Councils to make good this deficit.

 "The growth in the Household support fund will help our most vulnerable residents who are most in need, as will extensions to the breakfast club scheme, but ceasing funding for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS) will negatively impact our infrastructure investment across the County."

Councillor Brooks went on to say that extra cash to repair potholes and for walking and cycling infrastructure is well received although nowhere near enough to really enable the Council to tackle the root causes of the state of our roads. The Council is also disappointed in the increase in the bus fare cap.

However, Councillor Brooks felt that the assistance in funding to enable more early intervention should positively impact the health and wellbeing of our children and reduce the numbers at risk of being taken into care at vast cost to the taxpayer.

Finally, he said,

"Extra funding into housing, particularly affordable housing is welcome. We'd be very pleased to be able to recruit more planners but there is a shortage, and the Budget announcement does not tell us how that will be addressed. As always, we will need to review the detail to fully understand the implications of this budget.

"We will await the devolution paper and see how we can work with neighbouring councils to drive efficiencies and savings as we have been doing for some years, but we would not wish to become bogged down in protracted planning and implementation of Local Government Re-organisation."

[i] The high needs block is a program that provides funding to local authorities to support children and young people with complex needs.