'Giving Wolverhampton Council extra cash is rewarding failure': Councillor criticises Government's £118.5 million boost
A senior councillor has said giving Wolverhampton Council more money is rewarding failure after the Government announced the authority would be getting an extra £118.5 million over the next three years.
Councillor Udey Singh, finance spokesman for the opposition Conservative Group, said that while he welcomed extra money being made available for essential services, the funding would not address the underlying problems the council was facing.
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Wolverhampton was the region's big winner in last month's provisional funding deal for local government, receiving a 35 per cent increase in its spending power.
The Government changed the way grants were allocated, providing councils with a three-year rather than single-yea budget, and diverting money away from more affluent areas to authorities that were among the 10 per cent most deprived in the country.
Councillor Singh said: “This settlement effectively rewards Labour-run councils like Wolverhampton for years of failure to tackle deprivation and unemployment, while Conservative-run councils that have managed their finances responsibly, driven growth and kept taxes down are seeing their funding cut. That is not fair, and it is not sustainable."
He said that the Government's headline figures were also based on the assumption that councils would raise council tax by the maximum five per cent for each of the coming three years.
"Residents are expected to pay more, year after year, while the fundamental problems in the funding system remain untouched. Throwing more money at the same broken model will not fix it.
"Despite being billed as a turning point, the settlement does not address the systemic issues that continue to undermine local government finance, including rising demand pressures, reliance on short-term grants and an over-dependence on council tax to prop up core services.
"Conservatives are calling on the Labour administration at Wolverhampton Council to explain how it will use the increased funding to deliver real improvements for residents, rather than relying on higher taxes and continued central government support to paper over deep-rooted problems."
The extra money has been welcomed by Councillor Stephen Simkins, leader of Wolverhampton Council.
"Fourteen years of Tory government robbed Wolverhampton blind, now Labour is putting things right.
"And this three-year settlement finally gives us the certainty we need to plan ahead and deliver better services for residents. This is huge for Wolverhampton.”
Warinder Juss, MP for Wolverhampton West, said Labour was putting money back into local services, after 14 years of decline.
“This £118.5 million cash injection for our area will make a real difference to people’s everyday lives by boosting the services we all rely on. It means more money for our high streets, our libraries, our roads and for cleaner streets," he said.
Dudley Council, which serves a larger population, but doesn't feature in the 10 most deprived authorities, received an extra £75.9 million over the same period, an increase of 22.9 per cent. Walsall Council will receive an extra 28.5 per cent over the same timescale.
