THE HATCHES are being battened down as the council prepares for an economic downturn.
Council leader John Halsall warned that the financial picture for the immediate future was uncertain.
Last week, the Bank of England raised interest rates in a bid to stem rising inflation, which is expected to reach 10% later this year, the highest it has been since the 1980s.
Households are facing rising energy bills, the cost of fuel has soared, and everything from stamps to food costs are also increasing rapidly.
“There is no doubt about it – we are going to go into some sort of recession,” Cllr Halsall said. “The borough council has no alternative but to look at all its discretionary spending to make sure we’re not doing something which we shouldn’t be, or which uses a lot of money, because we will need that money for other things.
“I can’t change the prevailing winds, and they are unpleasant. What I can do is navigate through them, which is what I’ve done successfully in the past.”
He said that while the council had worked on a number of discretionary spend items that were local and beneficial to residents, if there was a recession, then the council would need to look again at future projects.
“I don’t know what it means at the moment,” he said. “All I know is that we’ll have to get out pencils out, and our budget out, and have a real look at where the pressures are coming from.
“We are going to have to support more people than we would have had to before, we will have a greater pressure on the housing list, increases in demand on adult services, children’s services and schools.”
He warned: “It’s very uncertain times.”
As a result of the covid pandemic, Wokingham Borough Council has brought together a number of voluntary sector groups through a community partnership based in Erftstadt Court.
“We have all the architecture in place to address all issues that come up,” Cllr Halsall said.
With one eye on May’s forthcoming elections, he said: “You really need to back the experienced team who has done this before, and demonstrated success. It is too risky to have an inexperienced team.”
Wokingham Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Clive Jones was also concerned about council’s finances.
“The next couple of years is going to be very difficult for residents,” he said.
“The cost of living crisis is is beginning to hit, it hasn’t hit everybody yet. But I’m sure that an awful lot of people are seeing that their food bills are rising, the cost of fuel is now going through the roof, energy bills are going to be going up over the next few months.
“Everything that the council is going to be trying to do over the next couple of years, the costs are going to be going up and up and up.
“All of this was discussed when the budget came to Overview and Scrutiny )commitee meeting) at the back end of last year, and it was very clear that there were going to be some difficulties ahead, because we just did not know what the increases in building costs and raw materials were going to be. And we also didn’t know what the costs of general inflation was going to be.”
He warned that if the Liberal Democrats took control of the council in May, they would have to work with the budget that was agreed at last month’s council meeting.
“We will have to stay within the budget envelope that has already been agreed for the next financial year,” he said. “We won’t have any choice.
“We will make some different calls from the Conservatives, but I have every confidence we would run the council efficiently and effectively.”
Cllr Rachel Burgess, the leader of the Wokingham Labour group, said that the financial picture would add pressures to the council.
“The rising cost of living is already hitting people in Wokingham hard,” she said.
“Instead of taking real action that would alleviate the crisis, the Conservative government have done the opposite, slashing Universal Credit by £1,000 a year, and introducing a rise in National Insurance tax at the worst possible time.
“When people are feeling the pinch, the Conservatives are asking people to pay more. This will undoubtedly have an effect on the demand for Council services and put more strain on the Council’s budget, a budget already hit hard by 12 years of continuing Conservative austerity.
“Meanwhile oil and gas companies are making obscene profits from the spike in energy prices. I back Labour’s plan for a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits which would see those most in need getting up to £600 off their energy bills. It’s time these companies were asked to contribute.
“By contrast, the Conservatives are forcing people to take out a £200 loan via their energy bills, only to have no choice but be forced to pay it back from 2023. This ‘buy now, pay later’ approach to the energy crisis is patently inadequate – and of little comfort to those in Wokingham most hard hit by the breathtaking rise in energy prices.”
