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As Many Public Services Struggle to Survive CWAC Leader Pleads to Government for More Money

Neston councillor pleads to the government, demanding a fairer deal for the borough. 

Labour's Louise Gittins has joined cash-strapped heads of many other local authorities in pleading to the Government for more money.

Leader of CWAC Council, and Member for Little Neston, Councillor Gittins has written to Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt demanding a fairer deal for the borough.

Her letter comes ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Wednesday, 22 November 2023 when he will set out the Government's spending priorities for the next financial year and beyond.

Cllr Gittins says Mr Hunt will have a chance to reverse damaging cuts that have left many public services struggling to survive.

Since 2010 the Government has repeatedly slashed funding to local authorities, leaving an increasing number of councils of varying political persuasions warning that they could effectively go bankrupt in the years ahead. Some have already done so.

The cross-party Local Government Association has warned that a combination of rampant inflation, rising homelessness and the increased cost of delivering services such as children's social care mean councils are facing a £4 billion funding gap by March 2025.

Cllr Gittins said: "Government cuts have been unfairly targeted at boroughs like Cheshire West and Chester where the cumulative total of reductions in Government funding is calculated as high as £572.462million.

"Unfunded pressures are pushing council finances to the brink. Local family finances are still recovering from the Conservative government's disastrous decisions that crashed our economy.

"The Government should take responsibility for funding local services, rather than once again forcing councils to increase council tax bills."

Cllr Gittins is reminding Mr Hunt that inflation is a major factor which has not been properly accounted for in government funding. Inflation soared after the Government's mini-budget crashed the economy and is still at a much higher level than anticipated.

Councillor Louise Gittins

Ever-increasing Children's Services costs relate mainly to higher prices for supporting young people in residential and supported accommodation, while demand also continues to increase for long-term Adult Social Care arrangements. Six out of every 10 pounds go to mandatory social care funding.

Homelessness costs remain a constant pressure in the face of the cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing freeze to Local Housing Allowance.

And Home to School Transport costs for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) continue to spiral due to an increase in the number of children requiring it.

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Comments

Steph

At 21:19 on 18th November 2023, Steph commented:

The strange thing about this site is that you can add a comment that is both factual and quite correct and it gets removed……..

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Colliery L

At 11:06 on 20th November 2023, Colliery L commented:

This site will not allow any criticism of Labour controlled CWAC council regardless of whether it is factual as 'About My Area' clearly has a strong Labour bias and is controlled and edited by someone who is a strong Labour supporter which is extremely worrying on any public information site that encourages people to post their views/comments.

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Dennis L

At 10:58 on 22nd November 2023, Dennis L commented:

EDITOR please reply and assure us communism does not exist in Neston.

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Dennis L

At 10:58 on 22nd November 2023, Dennis L commented:

EDITOR please reply and assure us communism does not exist in Neston.

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penny

At 15:14 on 23rd November 2023, penny commented:

This site is for information of what is going on in Neston, and should not be used for political propaganda. The Labour party are moaning not enough money, yet they can spend money on bird viewing platforms in Parkgate! Also if the Labour controlled council managed their own finances in a more responsible way, they woulddn't need to go pleading for money. Articles like the one above,should not be published on this site.

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CO Jones

At 14:41 on 30th November 2023, CO Jones commented:

As this has turned into a general rant about just about anything negative, I feel justified in redressing the balance. Thanks Cheshire West and Chester for the great scheme for a mass bid on solar installations across the Borough.

We signed up to the bid process and had the install yesterday and switched on today to pretty much free electricity forever.

A great forward thinking green initiative which will save me (and any other households who signed up and went ahead) tens of thousands of pounds in energy costs.

The installation was also about 5k less than I expected to pay.

Thank you CWAC and well done!

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