It’s Budget week, when the Chancellor will stand of the steps of number 11, waving a red ministerial box for the benefit of the cameras.
We await with great interest what measures the Chancellor may introduce to help deal with the increasing cost of living.
Councils, like families are not immune from the impacts of inflation, for instance on energy costs. Much like businesses, we have had to absorb the effects of last year’s employer’s National Insurance increase.
For us in local government, there is also the prospect on the horizon of our funding formula changing, which could channel funding away from places like Essex, toward the Midlands and the North, to combat deprivation.
At the same time, the Government is now consulting on how we change councils for the better – by ending the current, complicated two-tier system, and reorganising local government into three, four or five all-purpose councils covering the whole of Greater Essex.
My position on this, as Chancellor of Essex at the County Council and the Leader of Epping Forest District Council, is simple - the aim should be to keep pounds in people’s pockets.
I’ve said it before, but fewer councils naturally means better value for money – for you, your family and Essex businesses. This has always been at the heart of our ambitions for local government reorganisation in Greater Essex.
The evidence we have seen suggests that the more new councils are created in Essex, the greater the risk to value for money. And potentially, the more you may have to pay in council tax.
Having more councils could actually pose a significant risk to frontline line services.
The more councils there are, the more money it will cost you as taxpayers for things like officer and councillor salaries. And the more fragmented vital services like social care become and the harder it will become to deliver these in an efficient and safe way.
Fewer councils means more money to spend on building new homes, better local facilities and job opportunities. The alternative is spending money on more councillors and red tape.
Do have your say in the consultation – it is open until January 11.
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