By Cllr Clive Jones
All parties on the borough council agree that this year we face the most challenging environment anyone can remember for council finances.
Experienced Council Leaders, Chief Executives and chief finance officers across the country are talking of the current situation as unprecedented.
Double-digit inflation – familiar to all the borough’s residents – is hitting the council hard.
Material and labour costs are rising at an alarming rate, and we have very little control over those price rises.
Demand for our services, meanwhile, is growing – especially as a result of increasing homelessness and a growing bill for home to school transport.
The level of income anticipated in the budget set in February has fallen short of expectations, partly because of a fall in income from leisure centres which has declined as people tighten their belts and cut out what they see as non-essential spending.
There is also a significant shortfall in income from the car park charges budget which could be as much as £800,000 this year.
Now, as a result of the mismanagement of the economy at a national level, we also face the added challenge of steeply rising interest rates, which make any new borrowing for capital projects more expensive to service.
The council has begun the public scrutiny of its budget for the next three years.
This is very much a work-in-progress and will last for a few months before a new budget is presented to the council in February of next year.
Senior administration councillors and officers of the council have been going through every item of expenditure to question its necessity and see whether it can be delivered more cost effectively.
But no one has a monopoly on good ideas, and we are willing to seek the views of councillors of all parties.
I was pleased that the members of the Corporate and Community overview and scrutiny committee generally adopted a constructive approach, coming up with some suggestions for us to explore as we develop next year’s budget.
Most pleasingly of all, there seemed to be a general recognition of the magnitude of the challenge and an understanding that difficult and unpopular decisions would have to be made.
We have not shied away from those difficult decisions because we know the consequences of not rising to the challenge of setting a balanced budget in the most difficult circumstances anyone can remember.
The experience of Labour controlled Slough and Conservative Thurrock councils is a sobering reminder of the harsh reality we have to confront – both councils have effectively gone bankrupt and government inspectors have been sent in, imposing deep cuts to many services.
We are determined that will not be the fate of Wokingham Borough Council.
If we all pull together on the council, and focus resolutely on meeting the challenge, we can get through this crisis, accepted by many to be the worst economic crisis facing local government for 40 years.
Cllr Clive Jones is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Hawkedon
