Wokingham Borough Council faces a very challenging three years ahead, thanks to a highly unfavourable local government finance settlement, which has the net effect of reducing our government revenue support by £43.3 million between the financial years 2026-27 and 2028-29.
We have been seeking greater efficiency in our spending – making every pound count – and have had some success. Recently, the council was judged by a well-respected independent assessment as the second best in England in terms of outcomes achieved per pounds spent. We will continue to use all the tools available to us to improve our productivity. But greater efficiency, though it will help, will not solve the problem of limited resources on its own.
Nor will reserves. We have drawn on a reserve fund specially created to help meet the risk of loss of government support, and we will be deploying that over the next three years, but reserves can only be spent once and reducing them by too great an extent leaves no protection against future challenges. Councils that have run down their reserves to avoid council tax rises have ended up insolvent and relying on government emergency bail outs, which always come with unpalatable conditions attached.
Our recently approved budget raises the council tax to the level that the government expects – 4.99%. Nearly all councils have done the same, even those whose ruling groups won power on the wholly unrealistic claim that they could cut council tax and maintain services.
Even increasing the council tax to the maximum permitted level leaves very little to put towards service delivery after we have plugged the gap created by the loss of government support. We will not have enough extra income to cover inflation, let alone the rising demand for our services.
We have therefore had to make some difficult choices on increases in fees and charges to avoid cuts in the level of support we provide for many people in our community, such as the frail elderly and adults and children with disabilities.
The previous Conservative administration at Wokingham was criticised by the Local Government Association’s Peer Review Challenge for shying away from difficult decisions to secure short-term electoral popularity.
The current Lib Dem administration, by contrast, has been praised by the Local Government Association for having the courage to make difficult decisions in the interests of long-term financial viability. We recognize that difficult decisions can be unpopular, at least in the short term, but our responsibility is to future generations as well as the current generation; we must make decisions that ensure that the council is still able to support the local community in the years ahead. A broke council is in no position to help anyone.
Now is the time for cool heads and evidence-based decision making, not populist remedies that appear superficially appealing but will bring disaster in their wake. Our opponents pretend that the council can avoid difficult decisions and hide behind the rhetoric of easy (but in truth undeliverable) solutions. Most people in Wokingham are not taken in. They realise that difficult times require decision makers who recognize the challenges and are willing to rise to them.
My colleagues and I care about our borough and will always do what we can to protect it – now and in the future. This is a serious time that requires serious people, with a proper sense of their responsibilities. The politics of the playground have never been more inappropriate. We need a grown-up political debate, which faces up to reality and does not pretend that resources are infinite or that difficult decisions are unnecessary. We Liberal Democrats are prepared to do what is needed; are the opposition?
Cllr Stephen Conway is leader of Wokingham Borough Council
