Lib Dem car park charge freeze rejected by Labour and Conservatives

by Lib Dem team on 23 February, 2018

Stockport Council had its annual budget meeting last night. I’m told that the webcast of the meeting had no sound: opinions may differ on whether that’s a good or a bad thing!

The Lib Dems proposed an amendment to the Labour budget to do four things:

1. We proposed freezing district centre parking charges.

2. With over 60 council staff losing their jobs, we proposed that the size of the Cabinet be reduced from eight people to six. That would have saved £30,000 a year.

3. The Lib Dems oppose the “Burnham Tax”. Residents in Merseyside and Liverpool are not being asked to pay more council tax to fund their mayors, but in Greater Manchester we are. We proposed reducing Stockport’s Council Tax so that taxpayers didn’t end up paying more.

4. We have evidence that the council should be collecting more business rates, but doesn’t have the staff to do it. We proposed a “spend to save” investment to put more staff into the business rates team. The evidence we have from other councils is that this would pay off.

Our amendment was voted down by Labour and (nearly all) Conservative councillors. Labour and Conservatives voted together to support Labour’s budget with a 4.99% council tax increase.

“I was disappointed that the other parties voted together to block our proposals. A council tax rise of nearly five percent will be tough for many residents and to refuse to shrink the size of the cabinet as council budgets shrink surely sends the wrong message. We will continue to work for these plans, at least some of which we’ll be able to bring in if the Lib Dems get control of the council again after the May elections,” said Iain.

   10 Comments

10 Responses

  1. John Hartley says:

    Good for you.

    But may I ask what services Labour are proposing to reduce with the loss of the 60 staff. They will be real people doing real jobs. Isn’t Labour just doing the Tories work of continuing to decimate public services?

  2. Phil M says:

    Yet again, the council are stumbling through time with lack of spending controls, outsourcing and meanwhile the tax payer foots a bill above national wage rises for what I might add – pot holes, increased parking, bi weekly bin collections, where are the positives. Stockport is already one of the most expensive in the uk for council tax and waste money with no return for the residents!!!

    We need to find a way of not paying this Robin Hood tax!!!

  3. Misty says:

    Yes I agree, not agreeing to reduce the size of the ‘cabinet’ (presumably some sort of ‘inner circle’ of councillors who are paid to attend) does send out the wrong message, namely that they are looking after their own interests (and pockets), and not those of residents or council staff.

    A council tax rise of 4.99% is huge, made worse by it being a regressive tax i.e. falls heaviest on residents least able to pay. I think bills increased by 3% last year. And I think the trend will continue as cash -strapped councils find it harder and harder to keep services running.

    But I think there needs to be a massive re-think about the way local services are funded. Keep putting up council tax isn’t realistic or fair.

    Also, and maybe someone can answer this questin as it intrigues me: What has happened to all the millions of pounds (or it is billions by now) that central government has striped away from local councils? Where is all that money now?

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Misty,

      I think the bulk of the money is going to pay the interest on the national debt (mostly money the country has borrowed since 2008) and to reduce future borrowing.

      It’s like if you or I maxed out on our credit card, we’d have to cut back on other spending in order to pay the credit card interest and to pay off that debt.

  4. FB says:

    Well Misty;
    Where has all the money gone – and still going? Don’t overlook the elephant in the room!

    HS2 is consuming £billions to satisfy the high speed enthusiasts! I for one am quite content that my journey to London only takes 2hrs from Stockport. Any extra capacity required could be obtained by reopening selected closed lines at a much lower cost.

    The sooner HS2 is shelved, the more money would be available for the NHS, the Police, the Fire Service, Education, other Social Services – and Cheadle station!

  5. bruce says:

    Living in Stockport we are are well accustomed to metoric council tax increases especially from the lib dems.

  6. David Maycock says:

    i just don’t want to pay for the Mayor, we did not want one, we did not vote for one but have had one forced on us. Democracy ?

  7. Maccrgaret cummins says:

    It would have been better if in the near past, if the council tax hadn’t remained near static for a couple of years and instead was raised by a low percentage each time. Then perhaps we wouldnt have to had such huge increases now to catch up. Or was there a reason for this. Maybe also it’s also been a huge waste spending money on the so-called shopping guru Mary Portas when we’re about to lose M&S. Better to have asked the local population. ….

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