Inflation pressures risk emergency budget cuts to key local services

RISING energy prices and spiralling inflation are forcing Councils to rip up financial plans set just 3 months ago with the potential of emergency funding cuts to local services to meet their legal duty to balance the books this year.  As more than 1,600 local Government leaders, Councillors and ministers gather at the start of its Annual Conference in Harrogate today, new analysis published by the LGA reveals soaring inflation levels will add £800 million of extra cost pressures onto Council budgets this year alone.

Taken together, inflation, energy costs and projected increases to the National Living Wage will add £2.4 billion in extra cost pressures onto Council budgets this year alone, rising to £3.6 billion in 2024/25.

The LGA said the sharp spike in inflation and energy prices is an unprecedented crisis which could not have been predicted by either central or local Government when the Government finalised the local Government finance settlement earlier this year and Councils set their budgets in March 2022.

These extra cost pressures pose a serious risk to the future financial viability of some services and Councils.

It has left Councils facing a perfect storm from demand for services continuing to rise just as the price of providing them is also escalating dramatically. This is undermining Council efforts to help level up communities and support residents through the cost of living crisis.

The LGA said the Government needs to ensure Councils have the resources they need to meet these unpredicted costs and protect the services that are helping communities recover from the Pandemic and residents cope through the cost of living crisis.

Cllr James Jamieson, LGA Chairman, said:- "Soaring inflation, energy prices and National Living Wage pressures are putting Council services at risk. Budgets are having to be reset with potential cuts to the essential services people rely on, in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Inflation is not going to come down overnight. As our analysis shows, the impact on our local services could be disastrous. This will stifle our economic recovery, entrench disadvantage, and undermine Government ambitions to level up the country. Local Government remains the fabric of our country, as has been proved during the hugely challenging few years we have faced as a nation. Only with adequate long term funding - to cover increased cost pressures and invest in local services - and the right powers, can Councils deliver for our communities, tackle the climate emergency, and level up all parts of the country."
 

Flyposting circus promoter in another fine mess

AN event company that was fined earlier this year for illegally promoting a circus in Liverpool, has been prosecuted again! Just 2 weeks after being ordered to pay £1,500 in January, Exchange Events Ltd was again charged with illegally promoting Gandeys travelling circus.

The Congleton based company, which had extensively plastered dozens of posters and signs across the City, had even been found to be using the same locations as in the previous offence last Autumn.

This case of double trouble had been brought to Liverpool Magistrates Court after evidence was collated by Liverpool Street Scene Services Ltd, which delivers refuse services for Liverpool City Council.

Neville Wilson, the director of Exchange Events Ltd, attended Court and entered an immediate guilty plea on behalf of the company.

Mr. Wilson explained he had missed a period of work after suffering from a period of ill health, which required Hospitalisation earlier this year.

He accepted he had not been monitoring matters as closely as he should have been but added that he had already warned his publicity manager not to fly post following January's hearing. He said he had been given assurances that the posters had been removed however he accepted, by way of his plea, that the posters were not removed and that this was ultimately his responsibility as the director.

Exchange Events Ltd was fined £2,000 under section 224(3) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The maximum fine of £2,500 was reduced to take account of the early guilty plea and the mitigation provided.

It will also pay a victim surcharge of £190 and a contribution of £140 towards prosecution costs. The company has a total of £2,340 to repay within 28 days.

Councillor Abdul Qadir, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, said:- "Removing flyposting of this magnitude costs time and money that the City Council can ill afford. There's no excuse for this type of behaviour and we simply won't tolerate it. To flypost once is bad, but to do so again just weeks after being fined is outrageous. I hope for their sake there's no third time for this company, because we'll prosecute again. No question. I want everyone to know that illegal flyers and posters will be removed and Liverpool City Council will seek to prosecute at every opportunity. I also want to thank the Officers involved in helping to bring this case to Court."