Wokingham’s member of parliament, Sir John Redwood, has accused Wokingham Borough councillors of wanting to “keep quiet” about the grants it gets from central government.
In a recent series of posts on his personal blog, he listed details of millions of pounds worth of grants to the council that he claimed to have discovered.
“The councillors seem unaware of all this money or want to keep quiet about it.” he wrote.
He said his lists do not include the large grant for schools or the funds for special purposes like transport and roads.
“It reminds us that there is a grant for social care, a grant for discharge from hospital, and a Better Care fund grant in response to lobbying for more money for social care beyond the general resources.
“It also sets out the funding guarantee top-up, compensation for business rates as well as the main funding settlement spending capacity.
Responding to the claim, Imogen Shepherd-DuBey, Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for finance, said: “It is important that people understand the truth over our funding position – which is that it is caused by ongoing underfunding from the government – and misleading statements do not help us with this, or help people facing real financial hardship.
“What Wokingham MP Sir John has claimed is very misleading.
“He is confusing your council tax with government grants.
“Council tax is not a government grant as Sir John seems to think. It is the money that our residents all pay locally for services such as waste collection, libraries and repairing roads.
“Our core spending power, which consists of the council tax we collect and our settlement funding assessment, is not extra money we get from the government; it is the ongoing
funding that we rely on every year – and it has been increased again, this year, but well below the increasing costs of inflation and the demand for our services.
“This is because this miserly government increase does not even begin to account for high inflation and other increasing costs for the services our residents need
“Other than this, Sir John lists the sort of grants that all councils receive. These are for specific projects or issues that also cost us money in addition, so we only get these grants when we need them for specific things. These grants do not help with providing ongoing services.
“As a council, we are getting on with the serious business of making the approximately £16 million savings required next year due to chronic government underfunding, while still providing vital services and protecting those who need us.
“It would be good to have all local politicians support us in these efforts on behalf of our residents.”
Clive Jones, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Wokingham constituency, was also critical of Sir John’s comments.
He said: “You would have thought that with his years of experience, Sir John would know how council finances work.
“It’s an insult to the people of Wokingham to suggest the money they pay as council tax through their hard work is a government grant.”
