Liverpool council leader vows to plug £60m black hole

Feb 8 2008

A PLAN to solve Liverpool’s £60m financial crisis was being thrashed out today.

Council leader Warren Bradley led a team of politicians and officials putting the finishing touches to this year’s town hall budget.

It will set out how the council plans to spend taxpayers’ money, what this year’s tax rise will be – and what services, if any, need to be cut.

Their meeting, planned for some time, follows the humiliation yesterday of being named England’s worst- performing council on the back of financial problems.

Last month, we revealed how councillors must save £60m this year – including the missing £20m needed for Capital of Culture.

The continuing failure to pay for this year’s celebrations was a key reason why Liverpool was rated a one- star, “inadequate” council, despite scoring well in areas like education and social services.

Cllr Bradley today said he would not “shirk from taking the right and tough decisions needed”.

He said: “This year’s budget will be the most difficult we have ever faced.

“A team of councillors and officers have been working hard for months on our vision and strategy and the financial planning which underpins it all.

“The city’s finances will be resolved by the end of the month.

“I will reveal a detailed action plan which will not only tackle this year’s budget but also put the council’s finances on a sound footing for the next three years.

“It is easy to forget the scale of the deprivation and hopelessness which existed just a few short years ago.”

“Our challenge and responsibility is to build on these solid foundations to achieve a first-class city for all our residents.”

Residents will want to know what the impact of the plan will be on council tax bills with the government pledging to cap any increase at 5%.

Opposition leader Joe Anderson said: “We all wait with baited breath to see how this £60m black hole will be filled.

“My call for Labour to be involved in those discussions was turned down, even though the district auditor said that should happen.”

Cllr Bradley, who said the council’s priorities for the next three years were education, crime and the economy, again urged the government to assist with the Capital of Culture bill.

Council officials and the city’s Labour MPs have lobbied ministers for the right to borrow money to pay for 2008 – something town halls are normally not allowed to do.

Cllr Bradley said: “Capital of Culture is the biggest national event in the UK this year and the government should do more to support major projects outside the capital.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Audit Commission, which gave Liverpool the one-star rating, said he was worried the council might not take proper action.

Michael O’Higgins said: “There’s a sense that words may not turn into action because of some of the defensiveness of their response.”

But a council spokesman said the authority was taking the report seriously.