August is usually a quiet time in the council calendar. Evening meetings are few and far between and lots of people with children of school age are away.
But this August, officers and councillors at Wokingham Borough Council are working against the clock to put our case to ministers on the need for them to revise the proposed local government finance settlement.
You may have read already that over the next three years Wokingham is set to lose nearly all the core revenue support it receives from central government to help us cover the rising costs of delivering a wide range of services, including support for disabled children and adults, people with learning difficulties, and the frail elderly.
That would leave us almost wholly reliant on council tax to cover the costs of day-to-day delivery of services, but with the loss of such a significant amount of government support we will have nowhere near enough income to address inflationary pressures and increasing demand for services.
For many councils already in financial trouble, such a blow could prove fatal. Even in well-run Wokingham, where strong financial management and taking tough decisions on income and expenditure mean that we still have a good level of reserves, more tough decisions are inevitable if the government persists with its proposals.
We need to persuade ministers that their plans for the redistribution of funding away from places like Wokingham, and to councils it considers to be in greater need, will cause enormous damage if they are not at least moderated.
We recognize that the government is committed to redistribution, and our efforts are being devoted to convincing ministers to temper the impact by introducing a floor, or minimum level of financial support, for all councils.
Our chosen method of approaching this challenge is to identify potential allies amongst councils that are similarly badly affected and seek to work with them. Yelling from the sidelines about the unfairness to Wokingham alone is not likely to change ministers’ minds.
So, over the last few weeks, Wokingham has reached out to more than fifty councils in the same boat as we are. The response so far has been encouraging. Bracknell and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are lobbying alongside us for a moderation of the government’s proposals. We have also had positive replies from councils further afield, of all political complexions.
Wokingham’s role in the campaign is starting to be noticed, with some coverage even in the national press.
Besides direct approaches to councils, we are working with our two MPs to form a parliamentary campaign group. Clive Jones, MP for Wokingham, is writing to scores of other MPs to try to mobilize support. Yuan Yang, MP for Woodley and Earley, has had meetings with ministers to put our case and that of similarly affected councils.
This is the key period to try to get our message across. In the autumn the government will announce its decision on how it will proceed with the funding settlement for councils.
It will be far harder to get the government to make concessions after it has published its decision than before. Despite the lure of the summer sunshine, now is the time for us to redouble our efforts to protect Wokingham.
By Cllr Stephen Conway
