On Thursday night, Stockport Labour’s robust and balanced budget for the people of Stockport was approved at Stockport’s Budget Council Meeting.
The budget tackles the challenges facing Stockport by delivering;
- A plan to close the £10.3m funding gap for 2020/21 while still protecting frontline services and jobs.
- A below maximum Council Tax increase of 2.99%.
- The Council’s ambitious capital programme to stimulate growth.
- Wide ranging investment from one-off monies.
Commenting on the budget, Council Leader Elise Wilson said:
“I am delighted this progressive budget for Stockport has been agreed.
“We have worked hard to find the £10.3m worth of savings from this year’s budget while still protecting frontline services and jobs and trying not to overburden our Council Tax payers.
“The fact Government stills expect Council’s to raise Council Tax by their maximum possible allowance and add Care Precepts in order to maintain their “spending power” is simply an attempt to paper over the cracks. I hope the Government will urgently review Council funding so we can move away from this regressive form of taxation.
“However, in spite of these difficult circumstances we have delivered on our priorities as a Labour Cabinet.
“Thanks to one-off monies we have overseen investment which will improve how we deliver Adult and Children’s Social Care, create a long-term plan to address our school estates, provide gym and play equipment for parks across Stockport, provide support for our climate change call to action, provide support for businesses and communities, enable digital transformation and make improvements to our library offer.
“We have also expanded our ambitious capital programme of investing in the economic development of our town, generating jobs, building affordable homes, delivering walking and cycling schemes, addressing school capacity and condition issues and enabling the roll out of Full Fibre.
“Our budget re-enforces the ambitious Mayoral Development Corporation our Newest, Coolest, Greenest urban neighbourhood, with culture and communities at its heart. Delivering our Town Centre West regeneration project including Stockport Interchange and of course the business case for Metrolink.
“Despite the challenges we face these are exciting times for Stockport and I believe this is a positive budget that places the people of Stockport at the very heart of what we are doing.”
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Reform & Governance, Cllr Tom McGee added:
“We ‘re committed to working on climate change and providing a sustainable future – some of our current programmes currently being delivered in Stockport include LED streetlighting being rolled out across the Borough and planting 1,000s of trees.
“We’re adding to that in this year’s budget with a commitment to have a community orchard in every ward, investment in our Climate Change Call to Action, investment in parks, on top of the steps we have taken to bring forward the business case for Metrolink to Stockport, pushing for bus reform and bidding for walking and cycling schemes.
“And we expect to announce further measures in a few weeks’ time.”
ENDS