Putting Croydon First

Labour: fighting for you across Croydon

Alternative Budget For Croydon 2011

CROYDON LABOUR GROUP

PUTTING THE FRONT LINE FIRST

COUNCIL TAX SETTING COUNCIL MEETING 28 FEBRUARY 2011

ALTERNATIVE BUDGET PAPER FOR THE MEETING SUPORTING THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE BUDGET

OVERVIEW

As a Labour Group, we would not be starting from here. We recognise, in the face of record Government cuts to Croydon by the Tory led Coalition Government, we are at carrying out damage limitation.

It is time for Croydon Councillors from all sides to support Labour’s plan to save some front line services and introduce a medium term strategy to protect our Public Services for the future. We believe that this can best be achieved working in true partnership with our communities and council staff. We oppose Eric Pickles and David Cameron's plan that Councils should only become commissioning organisations.

Ed Balls has restated Labour would halve the deficit over 4 years, when George Osborne has said he will try to eradicate it over the same period. The Con-Dem government’s plan is not working - local government is facing record cuts, last quarter growth was negative, unemployment is increasing and inflation is continuing to rise.

The fact is that so many of the cuts are totally short-sighted. For example, the cost to the public purse of even a few extra young people entering the criminal justice system as a result of some of the proposed Youth Service cuts would far outweigh any so called short-term savings made by the current Council.

Our proposals are contained in the attached document. We propose to act now.
To be clear, the amendment to the budget contains points that have been able to be agreed and worked through in a 10 day period. It is damage limitation rather than the full budget we would have been presenting, if we were in control of the Council.

Key points include

Council Tax
• A Council Tax Freeze for this year 2011-12
• A Council Tax Increase for 2012-13 of 29p per week, seeing a 1.3% rise in bills, in contrast to the apparent Conservative plan for a 2.5% increase next year per the Cabinet Papers.

Savings
• Scrap the Your Croydon paper and reduce other public relations spend saving £345k
• Reduce ‘Special Responsiblity Allowances’ for councillors, notably cancelling the increases for the Tory Leadership voted through last year and further cuts beyond that, saving £75k

Revenue Expenditure
• Reinstate £635k for the Young People of Croydon, through protection of youth services, such as Timebridge, Together in Waddon and the Sir Phillip Game Centre and Early Intervention, such as the Family Centre
• Create a £250k Community Fund to support Croydon's Voluntary Sector
• Increase the budget for prevention for Adult Social Care by £200k, which will, for example, provide the additional £10k a year funding to keep the Pop In for the elderly, in New Addington
• Reinstate the £96k Cut to the Family Justice Centre regarding domestic violence
• Reduce the cost of the first resident’s parking permit by £10 from the cost proposed in the Conservative Budget, costing £50k
• Protect the street cleaning in key district centres from the worst of the service reductions planned, costing £200k
• Keep all of Croydon's Libraries open
• Keep Neighbourhood Partnerships (or similar), moving towards a community-led forum, with a small fund for small local projects – at £5k per ward

Housing Revenue
• Reduce rent increase to 5.5% (from 6.1%), funded out of Housing Revenue Account surplus

Capital Expenditure
• 2011/12 - £1m. for developing library buildings for the community
• Subsequent Years – Reprioritised budget, including £1m. for developing library buildings

Medium term
• Fundamental review of all functions and approach
• Localised services, delivered in true partnership with community and voluntary sector
• Review of CCURV, notably disposal of interest in the new HQ building
• Tackle all areas of expenditure, including renegotiating all major contracts
• Invest in the borough

DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT