At the Cheshire West and Chester Council Budget meeting on Thursday 15th February 2024, Cheshire West and Chester Council Conservative Group proposed a range of amendments to the overall proposals, all of which were rejected by the ruling Labour administration.
Local Conservatives sought to:
- Inject an extra £460,000 into the gully maintenance budget to help improve drainage and prevent flooding
- Allocate an extra £200,000 for ‘siding out’ works to pavements to improve accessibility and public safety
- Provide an extra £65,000 for the Public Right of Way budget to help improve the condition of these routes which many residents value for their health and wellbeing
- Support graduates starting out in their careers by funding two Council placements through a national scheme
- Improve the transparency of decision making around the ‘Green Bin Charge’ which has increased by 25% this year
In addition to rejecting these adjustments to the near £1 billion Council overall budget, Labour once again forced through a 4.99% increase in council tax, the maximum amount they could do so without going out to ask residents for their views. Conservatives voted against the overall budget package.
Commenting, Cllr Gaynor Sinar, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, said:
“The Conservative Group have engaged positively with this year’s budget setting process and set out a range of positive improvements which we know would have been welcomed by residents. Our focus for change was based on those things that appear in our inbox as councillors every single week: blocked gullies which increase the risk of flooding, pavements – often essential for safe walking to school – that have disappeared because of vegetation growth covering them, complaints about access to our valuable network of Public Right of Way and shock at an increase of 25% to the green bin charge. Labour wouldn’t listen. Our amendments were sensible, targeted, reasonable and above all would have resulted in practical improvements to our creaking local infrastructure at a time when residents see ever higher tax increases but much worse local services. But then it’s probably no surprise that we were unable to get our amendments passed when, in direct contradiction to what residents tell us, Labour councillors declared that ‘Potholes don’t matter.’ We believe they do but they’ll continue to get worse under this administration.”
Commenting, Cllr Margaret Parker, Conservative Group Leader, said:
“Labour’s tribal party-political approach to local affairs meant that just because the word Conservative appeared in front of an amendment, they rejected it straight away. Their starting position is to raise council tax by the maximum amount each year and slip through unexpected increases in charges through the back door with little transparency. The Council budget is greater now than it has ever been with substantial support from the Government coming in the form of millions of Pounds for projects that directly help the Council deliver on its priorities: like the funding to decarbonise public buildings and the additional £1.2 million this year and next year to help improve our highways. As usual, they increased council tax to the maximum amount, but what will residents see? Better roads? Better pavements? Cleaner gullies? Not likely. We’ll continue to make the case for improvements, but will Labour ever listen?”
