Local Government Minister hears pleas from council

This in from the council, in their own words. Ed

The Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Council officials and the Island’s MP met with the Minister for Local Government, Marcus Jones MP on Wednesday 6 January to discuss the impact of the recently announced provisional local government finance settlement on the council’s ability to continue to operate and provide services to and on behalf of the island’s community.

£32m cuts over next four years
The council was preparing to save around £10.5 million from its 2016/17 budget; however, this figure required to be saved has risen and has now been confirmed as £17.38 million; and around £32 million over the next four years.

Over the past five years, the council has already made upwards of £50 million savings and reduced its annual net spend to £124 million.

Funded by business rates and council tax
In the provisional settlement, the government has confirmed its intention for local authority services to be entirely funded by business rates and council tax by 2019/20, but has yet to confirm how the business rates will be reallocated to meet local need.

The cost of meeting needs of the Island’s community currently exceed the sums the council is able to collect from business rates and council tax combined leaving the council and the services in a very vulnerable position in the long term. The unique circumstances of the Island mean that on its own the Isle of Wight would not be able to sustain services to meet demands, without additional help from government.

Sought support from Minister
In the meeting, which was facilitated and attended by the Island’s MP Mr Andrew Turner, the council’s representatives made these points to the Minister, and sought his support to ensure that the Island can continue to be financially sustainable in the future.

The Minister was understanding of and acknowledged the council’s challenging financial position and in particular accepted that the Island’s has unique circumstances limiting the opportunities to respond to these challenges.

He agreed to ask officials from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to visit the Island to gain a more in depth understanding of the council’s financial position and the likely outcomes on the Island and its community of the budget decisions it is likely to have to take as a result of the Government’s financial settlement.

Unable to make commitments
He was unable to make any commitments to providing additional funding to the council so it can continue to deliver the services needed by the community at the meeting. He did however undertake to consider whether the finance rules which prevent the council using its capital receipts (from the likes of the land sale to Asda) to support projects to transform the council and regenerate the Island’s economy.

Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Councillor Jonathan Bacon said:

“We were expecting the spending review to hit us hard, but the savings needed are much higher than we could have anticipated, even when we were preparing for the worst.
“We will continue to lobby the government in hope that they will show understanding for our unique position, which was acknowledged by the Minister, and help us to achieve a balanced budget that is not to the detriment of our community.
“Nobody wants to have to stop providing services; neither councillors nor officers. However, this is the situation that we are now facing. We don’t have the funds to continue providing all the services that, by law, we don’t have to provide and to save the sort of figures expected by the Government over the coming four years would call into question the viability of the council.”

The delegation of council officers and Members included: