February is one of my least favourite months, it’s still dark and cold and whilst we may get glimpses of Spring on the way, it is often a false dawn with the winter yet to release it’s grip. Politically it is also a time which is difficult as well as it is the time when Council budgets are set and these are never easy and finding cross party agreement proves challenging.
Anyone who has had responsibility for managing a large budget will know that the demand for funds will always outstrip those available, meaning difficult decisions. It’s no different at Kirklees and this year, perhaps moreso, against the backdrop of a cost of living challenge and the recovery from the pandemic.
By the time you read this, the budget for the Council will have been set. The Labour administration are proposing the maximum increase allowed and set out their proposals. I, together with the Leader of my Group, have worked on a revised proposal which would see the increase limited to just the 1% social care precept rise. The Council budget is in the region of £350m and the administration set out their priorities within this. There is much I can support but do believe we could spend some of it more wisely. The scale of support that the Government has provided the Council during the pandemic is huge as well, circa £71m.
I do worry about the scale of borrowing proposed for regenerating Huddersfield and Dewsbury, especially after the furore over the George Hotel and the administration breaking its agreement with Rugby League over the Museum. It leads to questions about private investors’ willingness to fund the Council’s commitments. At a time when interest rates are rising, increasing borrowing by over 40% over the next 4 years is concerning.We have suggested pausing some of the proposals whilst we look to see if the Government’s Levelling Up Funds could provide some grants and so reduce the level of borrowing needed.
What disappointed me is the Administration has not focussed on the challenges children have faced as a result of the impacts on their education since 2019. One of the initiatives I am most proud of in our revised budget is putting over £1m a year into school budgets to support children who have fallen behind their peers, as we all know how critical to long term outcomes for every child, a good education is. Also in support of this we are proposing to provide additional funding to support those children with special educational needs.
This is an area where we have a higher need than many comparable Councils and one where funding provided centrally has been inadequate, leading to the Council building up a deficit in this area. I am pleased to see that following lobbying and a question in the House from our local MP, alongside lobbying from the Council and Senior Councillors as deal has been reached with the Department of Education to fund this deficit, enabling Kirklees to invest in this provision, including capital investment in our Specialist schools.
Another issue which I’ve written about is our approach to the environment and leaving the planet in a better state for the next generation than that which we inherited. As part of this I have agreed to join a group working with Senior Officers at the Council and other experts to look at the proposed changes to our Waste Strategy and see what we can learn from how things are done differently (and better) elsewhere. I already have a visit to a anerobic digester plant that could be used to convert waste food to reusable energy and compost planned and we are also looking at trialling an electric refuse collection vehicle as well.
