Cuts do us “no favours” says incoming Leader

Councillor Colin Lambert

Rochdale Council is one of 36 authorities across the country that will see the amount of money they receive from government cut the most.

The council will take a 8.9 per cent cut in funding - the maximum possible budget cut under the government’s new financial settlement for local councils.

The main grant the council receives – the formula grant -will be cut by £16.2m next year.

The formula grant is made by a calculation of how much money central government thinks local authorities need to provide services.

The council will receive a ‘transition grant’ of £31,000 or 0.01%.

The transition grant is there to cap the cut at 8.9 per cent.

Leader of the Labour Party, Councillor Colin Lambert, who is set to take over the Council tonight, said: “I will inherit the worst financial settlement since the war.

“Rochdale is one of the 36 local authorities facing the biggest cut in budget and this settlement does us no favours.

“Labour will take charge in Rochdale in the most challenging and difficult circumstances imaginable. But we won’t shirk our responsibilities and we’re determined to bring stability to the council and regain the trust of local people. However, we’ve not seen the books yet and given the chaos caused by multiple Lib Dem resignations over the past weeks we must brace ourselves for a bumpy ride. It certainly will not be easy.”

Councillor Lambert continued: “The cuts look pretty bad on paper but looking at the small print it could be worse. The Government is promising a council tax freeze but Greater Manchester Police have been hit with a massive cut of 23 per cent and will probably have to increase the police precept to make up the difference. This means the bills landing on peoples door mats will be an increase on last years bill.

“We look to have been hit with removal of some specific grants and these will hurt the ABG will cost us millions more and the small print in the CSR document shows a 10.9% cut in the early intervention grant which Education Secretary Michael Gove MP said would fund Sure Start.

“Whilst we face the biggest cuts in the country, Dorset gets a generous 0.25% increase.”

Pam Smith, Executive Director, Rochdale Borough Council said: “We are still analysing the figures, which look worse than expected, however, we are in the process of checking the exact amount of government funding we have been allocated. We have already said that there are going to be some very tough choices ahead. We are considering every option available to us, but in addition to our efficiency programme and the sharing of services, this level of grant reduction will inevitably mean we won’t be able to deliver every service in the future.”