Opposition claims Chesterfield council has fallen off ‘financial cliff’ with plan to balance ‘£4m’ budget gap

Cllr Tricia Gilby, of the Labour-controlled borough council, refuted claims by the opposition Liberal Democrat Group Leader Paul Holmes that the authority has taken the cash-strapped council over a ‘financial cliff edge’ by accusing Cllr Holmes of being a ‘harbinger of doom’.

The council voted by a majority at a meeting on February 28 in favour of its Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan outlining far-reaching cost-saving proposals to address its estimated £4m budget shortfall for the 2024-25 financial year from April 1 and it is to begin work immediately on its 2025-26 budget after deciding not to outline a longer medium term plan beyond 2025.

Cllr Gilby said: “2023-2024 has proved to be an unprecedented year not just for this council but for the whole of Local Government. Our revenue budgets have come under huge pressure from unprecedented and unprotected inflationary costs.”

She added: “Despite the challenging national fiscal and economic context I am pleased to report the council has remained resolute in its commitment to its delivery of high quality services.”

Cllr Gilby said the council has worked diligently to deliver a balanced budget after considering non-essential spending, maximising funding and introducing efficiencies despite the pressure of increased costs on service delivery.

She said: “Looking ahead we have prepared a budget for 2024-25 that enables the council to deliver the pledges we made to the people of Chesterfield which are embedded in the council plan.”

The council claims the economic climate following high inflation and interest rates, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis, uncertainty over Government funding, and rising costs and demands have created income shortfalls and a low business rate income while it faces increasing pay award levels and ICT costs.

It has stated its budget strategy and plan is based on efficient saving proposals and improved commercial, right-sizing principles while relying on financial reserves.

The council has agreed to a number of unwelcome and controversial money and cost-saving changes many of which will be implemented from the beginning of the financial year on April 1.

These include: Fee increases at its town centre car parks; New road-side garden waste collection charges; Increased fees and charges across some public services; The closure of its Visitor Information Centre with plans for a new digitised system; The closure of heritage site Revolution House; The relocation of its customer services centre to the Town Hall; And significant cutbacks at the council-run Winding Wheel Theatre.

Other plans now expected include introducing new and increased fees and charges at community venues and sports and leisure centres including Hasland Village Hall, the Assembly Rooms, Queen’s Park Sports Centre and Staveley’s Healthy Living Centre.

The council is also set to withdraw funding for four advice support agencies including the Citizens Advice Bureau, Derbyshire Law Centre, Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre and Links CVS.

It also intends to withdraw from the annual East Midlands in Bloom competition and it will be reviewing the management and maintenance of parks as the future of some council-run events are expected to be in jeopardy.

As part of the approved plans, the council agreed to set its share of the council tax rate with an increase of 2.99per cent after it had already agreed to increase council housing rent by 7.7per cent with both hikes in line with Government expectations.

Cllr Gilby said the council tax increase will support and protect services and will mean a Band D property would see an increase of £5.54 – from £185.27 to £190.81, or 10.7p per week – for 2024/25, and a Band A property’s council tax increase will mean an extra £3.69 per year, or 7.1p per week.

The council has also reduced workforce costs with 30 full-time employees agreeing to voluntary redundancy or voluntary retirement to so far avoid compulsory redundancies.

Opposition Liberal Democrat Leader Paul Holmes described the situation as the council’s worst financial crisis for many years while it continues to blame other factors for its plight and he predicted there will be more difficulties to come next year.

Cllr Holmes told the Labour council: “You have been in charge for the last 13 years so you have to take responsibility for the financial situation the council finds itself in.”

Despite the national economic position, Cllr Holmes claims the vast majority of councils are not in the same situation as Chesterfield Borough Council including Bolsover District Council, NE Derbyshire District Council and High Peak Borough Council.

Cllr Holmes also claimed the Liberal Democrats have been suggesting alternative approaches to manage authority finances for many years which have been rejected by the Labour-led council.

He said the council has increased staff, invested in loss-making cafes, has increased debt, and is struggling with £800,000 of losses from vacant council houses, as well as with reduced car park income, shop rents, and market occupancy, and it has only now started taking cost-saving measures including using £1.5m from reserves after it has ‘fallen of a financial cliff edge’.

Cllr Holmes asked the Labour-led council “Why all these things now when you have fallen off the financial cliff edge, why not two, four or eight years ago?”

He added: “You just rolled it over from one year into the next and into the next until it became part of a much bigger problem.”

Cllr Gilby said Cllr Holmes ‘looks like the harbinger of doom’ and other councillors accused the Liberal Democrat councillors of failing to come up with workable, alternatives which both Cllr Holmes and fellow Lib Democrat Cllr Tom Snowdon disputed.

The Labour council leader added: “We would rather not have to take these decisions but we have because these are the actions of a responsible Labour administration. We are still delivering to the people of Chesterfield what we pledged to in our plan.”

Chesterfield Borough Council has stressed it is continuing with its growth strategy which includes the Chesterfield Waterside scheme with residential and business developments, the Revitalising Heart of Chesterfield scheme to boost the town centre, The Stephenson Memorial Hall renovation and the £25.2m Staveley Town Deal regeneration scheme.

But Cllr Holmes claims the council’s development plans have been largely down to £70m of Government funding despite the authority’s claims about Government under-funding and uncertain funding arrangements for authorities.

To argue his point, Cllr Holmes described a scene from Monty Python’s Life of Brian movie when a revolutionary leader asks the rhetorical question, ‘Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?’.

Cllr Holmes said: “So, apart from that £70m that the Government has given Chesterfield, what has the Government ever done for Chesterfield?”

But Cllr Gilby explained the council has worked hard to outline and identify projects and successfully bid for funding and fellow Labour Cllr Gavin Baldauf-Good argued the same Conservative Government introduced financial restraints with austerity and continues to only provide one-year funding settlements for councils to prepare longer medium term budgets.

Cllr Gilby argued the Government puts money with councils they know can deliver and whom they regard as politically stable and whom they can trust.

She said: “We are the party of action in Chesterfield and that is why the people of Chesterfield put their trust in us last May and continue to do so.

The council formally approved ts Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan, Treasury Management Strategy, Housing Revenue Account Budget and Capital Programme, General Fund Capital Programme, and its council tax rate arrangements all for 2024-25.

Cllr Gilby said: “There were never going to be any easy choices and we have taken an approach of being honest and realistic with our residents and businesses. We simply cannot continue to deliver all council services at the same level.

“Obviously we would rather not take the decisions we have but these are the actions of a responsible Labour council.

“Despite the size and scale of the financial challenges we are facing we can recommend to the council a legally and balanced budget for 2024-25.”

Cllr Gilby confirmed the council is not yet providing a financial plan for the years up to 2027-28 due to uncertainty with the Government’s short-term, one-year funding settlements but she believes the 2024-25 budget plan will go some way to addressing any deficits in future years.

However, Cllr Holmes, who stated the Liberal Democrats would not be supporting the budget plan, added that he believes the council is heading in a downward spiral that economists call a ‘Doom Loop’.