Trafford Conservatives Budget response
Thank You, Madam Mayor
Before I get to the budget may I pay tribute to former Cllr Alan Mitchel for the commitment to this Council and the people of Hale he made for many years.
Cllr Nathan Leader of Trafford Conservatives response to Labour's budget proposals
" I would like to thank Graeme Bentley and his team of officers.
It was illuminating to be given a list from Cllr Harding at our last council meeting of Conservative's failings, so I thought it time to return the favour – not of National Labour failures over the years – they are well documented – but specifically of the manifold failures of this Labour-run council over a woeful 6 years of waste and EPIC mismanagement.
The newspapers are doing our job for us - headlines in the past week alone.
I quote - "Manchester Evening News reported- Trafford was the worst performing borough in Greater Manchester with 22% fewer potholes fixed than the year before" – The worst in Greater Manchester.
The Daily Mail heralded -"You’ve baffled residents with Benidorm-style sun loungers".
The Manchester Evening News yet again led with a very sad story for people like me who love this borough – “it used to be nice round here “.
However, we have been privileged to have Cllr Ross spending residents' money on ‘Hand Wringing’ Facebook videos explaining why he is going to hit them with a 4.99% Council Tax rise with nothing to show for it. You will no doubt hear him say ‘Every Council is raising by 4.99%’ but other Councils aren’t the worst performing boroughs in Greater Manchester.
Let me tell you what Labour’s vision for Trafford is according to their budget report.
“ Labour’s vision for Trafford is– where all our residents, communities and businesses prosper”
It goes on to say -
All our residents will have access to quality learning, training and jobs – but they don’t do they - because we don’t have enough school places in the right places – residents' children are being sent to schools miles away or out of the borough.
The Next line says
All communities will be happy, healthy and safe our businesses and town centres will be supported to recover and flourish for the benefit of everyone – but you've dimmed the street lights, residents feel less safe and you aren’t fighting our corner to get Altrincham Minor injuries unit.
You could have offered free parking over the festive period when you could have helped our business – but you refused to support our motion to support this.
Or make sure Regent Road car park was reopened back in October to help Altrincham survive.
This vision statement is total tosh - Labour have divided the borough and certainly not made it prosper Labour has made us a laughing stock in the national press
What is clear is the fact that You, Labour gambled our money on casino-style investments as we can see in this budget with pitiful returns and raids on our reserves.
And you Labour purchased - A nursing home to reduce care costs but it didn’t do that did it? - It has done nothing but increase costs. - 20 months later it's boarded up - all that this has achieved - is reduced the number of care places in the borough adding further pressure and - costing ratepayers hundreds of thousands in waste.
You, Labour decided to put forward and take a 40% pay rise at a time when everyone was feeling the pinch.
You, this Labour-run council accepted the GM Mayor's consultation on the Sale Fire station- you should have said NO and never allowed any suggestion of the fire station closing. It should never have got that far.
You, Labour decided to keep Amey when they had a seven-year review last year, having undermined and berated them for 7 years before.
You this Labour-run council decided to go against the consultation results in Stretford on cycle lanes with 64% opposing, you knew better and ploughed on.
You, Labour chose to dim the street --- now we are a cycling accident hot spot in GM with roads in a state of disrepair coupled with your plan to dim the street lights It is no wonder cyclists are more at risk in our borough - who in their right mind would choose to cycle here.
You, Labour have failed to stand up for the people of Altrincham and get our Minor Injuries unit opened
You, Labour have decided to put up council tax by 4.99% - with nothing to show for your last six years amounting to a 32% increase.
And it's you Labour here in Trafford that must take responsibility for your actions your waste your bad decision-making
Even in this chamber, the majority of motions you brought forward are not relevant to the people of Trafford.
In summary
An investment portfolio increased from £40m when you took over to £350m today and according to your budget teetering on the edge. The council doesn’t have the resources or knowledge to manage the money they have to invest and though it might not be this year this council is heading to a section 114
One of the worst decisions this council made was to hike up the borrowing ability while failing to consider the effects of inflation/interest rates and changes in the market.
A council that sees its job to put up parking charges, increase rents, sit on assets, or sell them off cheaply in a fire sale has no right to run a portfolio – to nurture business you need to understand the basis of why numerous councils reduced parking charges over the festive period to encourage the shoppers to shop, enabling the shops to have the money to pay council tax to keep the coffers full.
This council appears to lack the basic ability to understand between calculated risk and reckless decisions.
This council's top priority is to be happy – clearly, this is not working
The Council uses the acronym EPIC we can all agree with that, but from a resident’s point of view this budget is an epic failure and we won't be supporting it.
