Minutes:
The last two years have been difficult for our residents struggling to cope with the effects of the Covid pandemic. I want to thank all of the staff at Wokingham Borough Council who have during this time worked diligently to continue to provide the Council’s services, that many in our community rely on. Many others in our communities have also worked extremely hard to help their employers keep their businesses afloat, often adapting to new ways of working, such as working from home, with many having to balance this with home schooling. Thanks also to everyone who has helped our NHS and care homes to continue to provide high standards of care. Many have battled through quite horrendous times in the last two years. Life as an NHS professional was very different back in February 2020 to what it is now, while Adult Social Care employees have throughout continued the vital work of looking after some of the most vulnerable in our society. Wokingham Citizens Advice, our Food Banks, and many other charities, have also worked tirelessly to support our residents. We all hope that in the coming months we will be able to see a return to some form of normality, in whatever form that manifests itself. However, we know that many in our communities will continue to face significant challenges.
The Liberal Democrats are firm supporters of social housing. With the looming cost of living crisis, the need for affordable, decent, quality homes is more acute than ever in the Borough. We welcome the fact that the Council works in partnership with our council tenants to deliver our housing service, and that they have been consulted on the Housing Revenue Account budget. We are also pleased to see that the Council has started to look at adapting its housing stock as part of work on the climate emergency. However, we are surprised that the report says absolutely nothing about the major decision which went to the Executive tonight, to bring the Gorse Ride regeneration project back into the Housing Revenue Account. According to the Executive agenda, the budget for this is over £105million. There is an expectation that funding it will involve additional Housing Revenue Account borrowing of £37.5million. Not only is this not in the HRA report, but it is also not in the Treasury Management Strategy, which on page 111 of the agenda, and again on page 125, gives the HRA figures for the next 3 years without any mention of the possibility of more borrowing for Gorse Ride. Failing to include significant borrowing does rather make a mockery of the papers in front of us tonight. Essentially you are asking us to approve a 3 year Treasury Management Strategy, which you know contains incomplete information.
We are all facing a cost of living crisis; increases in energy costs are hitting our residents hard, with many having to suffer an increase of over £700 per year. High energy costs, high increases in inflation, increased taxes on businesses and employees will all take their toll, hitting our most vulnerable residents the hardest. The Government’s proposal to reduce council tax for Bands A to D will help some residents in a small way, but it is nowhere near enough. Pensioners have had their state increases limited to 3.1% now that the Conservatives have scrapped the pensions triple lock introduced by the Liberal Democrats. Inflation is however, now over 5%, so they are losing income. Interest rates have just had their first consecutive rises since 2004. Commentators say that there is much more to come. The next 18 months could be very difficult for home owners with mortgages. The Bank of England predict that inflation will reach 7.5% in April. All these cost increases will hit our residents. They will also hit the Council. We are already seeing the effects of increases in inflation on Wokingham Borough Council. We share the concerns of the Chief Financial Officer that we are in unprecedented times of uncertainty. We must therefore keep inflation budgets under constant review.
Increases in energy costs have hit budgets and cost increases in raw materials in the building industry have resulted in cuts to the Council’s Capital Programme. I am thinking of the Twyford Library, that appears to be on hold following a 20 year plus campaign by local Liberal Democrats to get a new library. It is on hold it appears because of a relatively small amount of money. The crematorium project has been scrapped. Increases in building costs mean it is no longer viable, but has the original need for a crematorium in Wokingham gone away? I think it probably has not.
So, are the Conservatives fit to be in charge of our Borough finances? Conservatives are driven by dogma. A few years ago their ideology said that outsourcing of services was the key to solving all of our ills. They set up Optalis and outsourced PPP. Neither worked well and we have had to radically change them. Luckily, we now have an excellent management at Optalis which is putting it back on track again. The Council is bringing PPP back in house, but there is a substantial one off cost of £300,000 in 2022/23. Substantial additional revenue costs in the next 3 years are being provided for organisational transformation, or change, including £3.4million in Adult Social Care and £3.7million in Children’s Services. These and other costs are predicated substantially or wholly on savings in future years. We welcome additional spend to save and to deliver improved services, but we ask how long have issues that require change existed, and how long have overspends been going on for? How much of the spend is due to the unravelling of the 21st century Council process, so soon after it was implemented? How will hard pressed staff cope wit yet more changes? All these scenarios put pressure on the personal finances of our residents, especially the lower paid and the vulnerable. It is therefore incumbent on us as councillors to minimise the Council’s council tax increases. Our difficulty is that we have less Government funding for the next financial year. In fact, there has and will be a massive decrease in funding relative to costs that the Council is expected to cover. The new Homes Bonus is a grant from Government to encourage house building. Despite plans to meet increased building targets the new Homes Grant from the Government has decreased from £7.5million in 2021 to £4.8million in 2022/23. Coming down the road is the galloping elephant of the Social Care Reforms that have the potential to bankrupt the Council and other councils unless they are fully funded by the Government.
If we are running the Council, we would broadly abide by this budget envelope, but within that envelope we would have different priorities to the Conservatives. We would look at ways of helping local businesses to recover from Covid. Mental health and wellbeing will be a priority for all ages, especially children’s mental health. We would commit the Council to seek White Ribbon accreditation. We will push for affordable, safe travel options. We will review the system of discretionary payments for residents in crisis. We will ensure effective out of hours support for residents in crisis, that ensures that no resident is forced to sleep rough. We will invest in implementing the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, and ensure that public money spent on climate emergency projects have fully costed business cases. We will push ahead with our idea of a Covid memorial wood, as a place where residents can remember their friends and family members who have been lost to Covid. Mr Mayor, this evening Liberal Democrat Shadow Executive Members will give some details on what we might do differently to the Conservatives if we were running the Council