This in from Jonathan Bacon on behalf of the Island Independent Group. Ed
The Independent Administration of the Isle of Wight Council have today published proposals due to go before the Council Executive and Full Council which will radically overhaul the finances of the Council and lay the foundations for positive changes in the way the Council is able to act.
Jonathan Bacon, Leader of the Independent Group and Leader of the Council said,
“As most people know the challenge of Government cuts has been a major threat to the Island’s financial security and ability of the Council to make improvements for Islanders. However changes in regulation and personnel have meant that over the last few months we have been able to have a complete overhaul of the approach to the Conservative Government’s austerity measures.
“We now have a basis from which we can start to be more creative rather than continually having to go down the road of cutting more and more services. The Government’s austerity programme has already seen over a third of the Council’s revenue budget removed over the last five years and earlier this year, before the current work was undertaken, we were looking at the very real prospect of going bankrupt next year. We can now, however, start to plot a new course.
“This new strategic direction includes some radical ideas; including taking a new approach to how we repay our debts. We have looked at all of our debts and how much has been set aside towards them and found that by changing the way we set aside money to pay debt we can save in the region of £4m per year.
“It is not the case that the process of cuts can stop completely. The Government is still forcing us to remove another £22.5 million from our budget in the next few years. However by a combination of measures, including restructuring how we handle Council borrowing, the effect of this can be smoothed out. In the forthcoming budget we still have to reduce expenditure but instead of the originally proposed figure of £12.5m the target can now be reduced to £8.5m.”
Steve Stubbings, Deputy Leader of the Independent Group and Executive Member for Adult Services said:
“These new measures hopefully mean we can also seek to avoid more of the damaging cuts in front line services that have been forced upon us in recent years. The savings targets still imposed on us by the Conservative Government mean that we cannot simply unpick what has gone before although, as the paper notes, we are now able to halt the forthcoming proposal to cut support for concessionary travel for disabled people. This will hopefully mark a point at which we can draw a line in the sand and start to concentrate on positive investment and get away from the negative Conservative cuts agenda.”
Julia Baker-Smith, Executive member for Planning and Housing said:
“The room for manoeuvre this gives us means we can now pursue a programme of Regeneration and growth, giving us the real chance to bring forward bold schemes to regenerate areas such as Newport Harbour and Sandown seafront and support marine industries in the Medina Valley. We will ensure that the right mix of houses are built on the Island and provide much needed affordable housing needed for our residents.”
Jonathan Bacon added,
“A great deal of work has gone into this new Strategy which we are now bringing forward. We are concentrating on dealing with the job in hand and standing up to the challenge we have been presented with, rather than simply accepting and promoting the Government’s cuts agenda which has been promoted by Local Conservatives. The Independent administration have now laid the groundwork for what could be a new era of positivity and growth on the Island.”
Image: Artem Popov under CC BY 2.0
