I don't care who wins election - council leader

Conservative councillor Lezley Picton is calling for more financial support from government

A council leader has said she “doesn’t care who wins the general election" as the authority grapples to make £62m savings.

Conservative councillor Lezley Picton told a heated full meeting of Shropshire Council the central government settlement for the next financial year was “not enough”.

She called for further support from Westminster in the face of a rapidly worsening financial outlook for local authorities.

A 5% council tax rise and budget cuts were approved on Thursday.

Addressing councillors, Ms Picton said: “I don’t care what colour of government gets in next time because I don’t think that colour of government would make a difference.

“For years local government has been underappreciated and under-funded and we shouldn’t stand for that. We can’t carry on living hand-to-mouth, we really cannot."

She told BBC Radio Shropshire: “My first responsibility is to the people of Shropshire, I’ve got to do the best I can.

“Our Conservative MPs are under no illusions as to how unhappy we are with the financial settlement, I can’t put words in their mouths but I think they are unhappy too.”

The council has agreed to pay £6.2m to PwC to identify savings

At the meeting, opposition group leaders said the administration had wasted its capital money on “shiny projects” and claimed the council’s financial strategy had failed.

Ms Picton said: “The revenue budget before you today is tough. It’s really tough. Any proposals that result in job losses and changes or cessation of services is heart-breaking.

“The simple truth is, local government is struggling like never before.”

The council’s cost cutting measures include shrinking the organisation by 300 staff, charging for its green waste collections and cutting the number of household recycling centres in the county from five to three.

'Residents not likely to forgive'

The council says it will begin discussions with local communities on how non-statutory services such as libraries and leisure centres could continue outside the council’s control.

Councillors voted through the measures with a narrow majority, after Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green councillors opposed the budget.

Liberal Democrat leader, councillor Roger Evans said the Conservative administration’s plan had not worked, and he had a sense of “deja vu” over the council’s financial position.

He said: “Was the plan to cut our workforce by over 300 staff whilst paying PriceWaterhouseCoopers millions of pounds?

“Valued services in Shropshire stand never to be the same again, and residents are not likely to forgive many of these actions.”

Labour councillor Julia Buckley said the authority was “obsessed with outsourcing”, and claimed the council had lost control of its costs as it asked residents to “pay more for less”.

Ms Buckley tabled an amendment to suspend 300 proposed job losses at the council while it explored other options with trade unions, which was voted down.

The council says it will now put plans in place to start applying the changes approved in the budget, and is set to commence a number of public consultations on “significant service changes” set to take place as a result of the budget.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.