The Leader of the Conservative Group and Rushcliffe Borough Council, Neil Clarke MBE, has called on the Government to reverse plans to cut millions of pounds of funding for Rushcliffe Borough Council, which could force the council into tax rises or service cuts
The Government has written to Rushcliffe Borough Council and other councils across the country, which are deemed to be well-run and not in financial distress, to consult on plans to dramatically cut funding, and redistribute this funding to other councils in financial difficulty.
Cllr Clarke has said this would reward failing councils and penalise successful ones.
He said:
“Here in Rushcliffe, we have the lowest Council Tax element in Nottinghamshire, one of the lowest in the UK, and invest tens of millions of pounds every year into enhancing our superb community and leisure facilities.
“Rushcliffe is debt-free with stable financial management, spending money on services, not paying off debts.
“The new funding review proposals are unfair, and risks rewarding failing councils like Birmingham City Council and Nottingham City Council, who have wasted millions of pounds of tax-payers money. We have a fantastically well-run Council and to be told we could see virtually all our grants and funding stopped, sends a clear message that you would be better off running your council into the ground and getting bailed out by the Government.’
“This would be a highly dangerous move, and incentivise risky spending on vanity projects and wasteful projects, such as what has happened in Nottingham City Council. The Government should be rewarding councils for being prudent with taxpayers’ money, not penalising them.’
“As a Council we will be responding to the Government to make clear we do not support their unfair funding review, we want to continue investing in our facilities, or events and keep council tax rises as low as we can.”
