Greens say "set a budget for the vulnerable, jobs and the economy"

Once again Reading Borough Council is preparing its annual budget and this year it has a stark choice, point out Reading Greens. It can either increase council tax by a small amount to cope with the cuts in funding (1), or it can take a token one-off bribe from the Tory government for freezing council tax.

Whilst the second option looks superficially attractive, it would not only leave the Council worse off this year by nearly £0.7m, but it would make a much bigger hole of nearly £5m in next year’s Council finances (2).

At the same time, central government is slashing its funding to the council year on year, already forcing major cuts in services and jobs (3). Accepting the one-off bribe would only make things worse.

In response, Reading Greens are proposing an average increase on council tax of 87p per week (4) to protect vulnerable children and adults and to safeguard vital services. At 3.5%, this increase would be a lot less than current inflation. They propose one more small increase in 2013/14.

Green councillor Rob White said: "we need a fair budget for tough times. The Council is facing unprecedented cuts to its funding and is proposing to reduce services and cut staff in areas such as special needs transport, learning disability support and respite care.

"In the staff consultation (5), learning difficulties managers said that ‘the service level cannot be maintained’. In school improvement, responses included that cuts would ‘push work from the administration staff to others’ overloading them. In safeguarding, officers said ‘there is no longer capacity to provide effective maternity and sickness cover’ and most worryingly of all is that the good work completed since the service was deemed inadequate in 2008 ‘will be lost’.

"We think that this is unfair, unacceptable and as we said in our manifesto last year we think public services are important and we will defend them. For 87p per week – not per head, but per household - it is possible to limit this damage in the coming budget and to avoid finding ourselves in a massive hole next year.

"It is clear that council tax is an imperfect system, but it is one of the few options councils have to raise income. Council tax is fairer than some other options because the poorest don't pay anything and the people with the largest homes pay most. We understand these are difficult economic times and so we feel that an increase in council tax has to be modest and below inflation. This applies not just this year, but next year too, whereas a freeze this year would need a massive hike next year to make up lost income.

"Through a combination of reducing costs, and increasing some charges and council tax, we think it is possible to protect the most vulnerable from the savage central government cuts. This will also allow us to defend jobs and support the local economy. 27 councils around the country, including 11 which are Conservative controlled, as well as the Greens in Brighton (6 & 7) are also raising council tax instead of taking the one-off freeze money. We want Reading councillors to consider this option."

ENDS

Notes for the Editor

For more information please contact Rob White on 07985 923938 or 0118 9667183.

1. Last year in 2011/12 the Council had to cover a shortfall of £18 million. This year, 2012/13, Reading Borough Council will need to save in the region of £8.7 million due cuts from the Tory led government. In 2013/14 the Council will need to save an additional £6.9 million. This is from a total budget of around £118 million.

2. This is compared to freezing council tax this year – and accepting the one year only government money – and a freeze next year with no money.

The table below shows the impact of declining the council tax freeze money and increasing council tax by 3.5%

	2012/13 £000	2013/14 £000
Accept freeze money	1735	0
Decline freeze money and increase council tax by 3.5% in 2012/13	2430	2430
Increase council tax by 3.5% for 2013/14	0	2515
Extra income of council tax increases compared to accepting the freeze money	695	4945
Total income of combined council tax increases 2012/13 and 2013/14		5640

3. This year 95 jobs and posts will be cut. Last year approximately 300 went.

4. This figure is for a band D property.

5. Directorate of Education and Children's Services staff consultation.

6. Last year the Local Government Chronicle reported that a fifth of councils they surveyed were considering rejecting the government money for freezing council tax, including authorities run by Conservative groups.

7. The 27 councils rejecting the council tax freeze money: http://www.lgcplus.com/finance/council-tax-rebels/5040503.blog#Proposal

Reading's budget savings proposals…

I have now finished my first attempt at wading through Labour's budget savings proposals. Pretty depressing! Fairness was my motivation for getting into party politics not competing as to who can make Tory cuts most sympathetically. Parties of all persuasions have complained about different aspects of government cuts going too far. It would be great to see a cross-party coalition of councils saying enough! But I won't hold my breath.

For the last few years the Council has been having to make cuts with last year's – following on from the Tory led government’s comprehensive spending review – being the biggest. This year the black hole that the Council has to fill is £8.7 million. The Labour group have said that they will be accepting the council tax freeze grant/bribe meaning that their budget revolves around cutting and increasing charges – efficiency, income generation and service change transformation.

Here are a few of my particular concerns so far:

– generally the Council will have less capacity and less flexibility
– schools are being asked to do a lot for themselves whereas in the past services have been provided centrally
– back office cuts will put more pressure on front office staff who will have less time to spend with service users
– changes to children's special needs transport mean that in the future people will find it harder to access this service
– what will changes to Learning Disability Supported Living and the Respite Care Service mean for the service users
– job losses
– an increase in the charge for a second parking permit from £60 to £75

There are undoubtedly opportunities to do things better, but I will leave it to Labour to sell the positives in their budget.

I have had briefings on some of these and we are continuing to look into things. Feel free to send me through your comments.

The budget savings proposals go to Cabinet on February 13 but aren't debated. They then go to full Council on February 21 where they are debated.

For anyone interested you can read the full budget here. The "interesting bit" starts on page 50 – in Acrobat – and is headed Appendix 2.

Interview with Jamie Whitham, Park Ward 2012 Green candidate

Q1. Tell me something about yourself outside of the Green Party?

I just got back from a sledging holiday in Austria where I went on the world's longest floodlit sledge run at 14 km!

Q2. How and why did you get involved with the Green Party?

I have always had a strong sense of justice/injustice. My mum tapped into this and roped me into helping with the Esso boycott – because they were actively working against efforts to tackle climate change – and the Jubilee debt campaign – calling for governments to cancel the debt of cash poor countries. Following on from these I was interested in trying to make more of a difference locally and so got involved with the Green Party.

Q3. What have you achieved so far as the Green Park Ward 2012 candidate?

In Newtown I have been working on parking problems and promoting the residents' parking consultation. I have also been working to tackle fly tipping, reporting it and I helped with a clear up.

In the Wokingham Road area I have been updating residents on the secondary school situation. I have also been helping progress the 20 mph scheme from Talfourd Avenue to Holmes Road inclusive.

The pinnacle of my work locally so far was getting a bike tire off a roof in Crescent Road, which a resident had reported as an eyesore ; )

Q4. What is your favourite type of biscuit?

My favourite is a Boaster but only if I am feeling rich enough to buy a pack. Otherwise I quite like Jaffa Cakes or a plain chocolate digestive. I have also been known to make the occasional biscuit and for a recent action session I made chocolate chip cookies, shortbread and macaroons.

If you have any questions or want to get involved with our campaign to elect Reading's third Green councillor in Park Ward and possibly get to sample one of my home-made biscuits at an action session please get in contact.

E-mail me at jamie@readinggreenparty.org.uk

East Reading Festival

There has been a festival in east Reading for a while now. In recent years it has been run and funded by the Council with support – sometimes a lot of support – from people in the community and various organisations.

As part of the Council's cost-cutting funding for the festival has been chopped in recent years and this year we will lose more and the officer support. This is both a threat to the festival happening and an opportunity for the community to really take ownership it.

Fortunately a number of people have stepped forward to ensure that the festival happens this year and in future years. Unfortunately we will be up against it, we are losing experience and deadlines are fast approaching.

The committee met earlier this week. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but I am pleased to report that the festival will take place with small community events starting on June 7, 2012 and leading up to the finale in Palmer Park on Sunday, June 10, 2012. The theme for the festival will be "living on a budget".

If you are interested in getting involved with the committee, running a small event, having a stall at the finale or anything else get in contact and I can pass on your offer.

A new Facebook group has been set up here.

Latest on the proposed east Reading secondary school

Councillor Melanie Eastwood recently asked for an update from the Council on the possible new secondary school in east Reading and got the following back. She has also asked the College for an update.

In summary no more information is available, no decisions have been made and it has slipped back a year.

RBC: "The Department for Education has allocated a project team to work with Oxford and Cherwell Valley College with the ambition to open a University Technical College in September 2013. There are a number of hurdles to clear, not least of which are: securing a site; establishing a curriculum; agreeing a funding agreement and communicating the nature and ethos of the school to interested parents. All of this is the responsibility of the college."

How can we help you?

Cllr Melanie Eastwood and I will be holding the following residents' advice surgeries. No appointment necessary.

Friday, January 27 – walkabout surgery in the Orts Road (East) area, 3 PM to 3:30 PM

Friday, February 24 – outside Alfred Sutton school, Wokingham Road, 3 PM to 3:30 PM

Saturday, March 24 – outside Arthur Hill baths, King's Road, 11 AM to 12 noon

If you are unable to come along to any of these surgeries, but have issues you would like to raise please get in contact.

Labour hold up the white flag nationally

Below is a letter from Green MP Caroline Lucas on the Labour government's recent economic announcement:

In his interview with your paper on Saturday, Ed Balls effectively holds up a white flag and admits that Labour has given up any attempt to set out an alternative economic agenda (Beyond the hair shirt: Labour party can give Britain the tough love it needs, insists Balls, 14 January).

His capitulation before the Tory-led coalition's definition of economic credibility as meaning ever more fiscal austerity, and his jaw-dropping statement that "we are going to have to keep all these cuts" calls into question the very purpose of the Labour party.

Moreover, the choice he poses between higher public sector pay or growing unemployment conveniently ignores the fact that many public sector workers are on very low incomes, and falsely suggests that we can't afford to fund both. It is investment in decently paid jobs that generates income, and thus the tax revenues to pay for credit or borrowed money, not the other way round.

Instead of trying to outcompete the government in some kind of masochistic virility test to see who can threaten the greatest austerity, an opposition party worthy of the name would be making a far stronger case that austerity isn't working, and offering a genuine alternative.

A combination of more progressive taxation, a crack down on tax evasion and avoidance and, crucially, Green quantitative easing to deliver investment directly in the new jobs and infrastructure the UK urgently needs to make the transition to a more sustainable economy, would do far more to challenge the government than the Tory-lite policies set out by the shadow chancellor.

Caroline Lucas MP

Leader, Green party