Last week’s Full Council meeting at Crawley Borough Council was
the annual budget meeting, where the council decided it’s priorities for the
year ahead. This year was particularly challenging with a budget full of
service cuts and hefty price rises presented by the Labour cabinet.
My view as leader of the opposition was to try to salvage as
much as we could for Crawley. The backdrop was difficult. The huge demand for
housing has caused the council’s temporary accommodation costs to skyrocket. The
impact on housing demand appearing to be ignored by the Labour Government, when
saying they are likely to approve a second Gatwick runway, that will require
many people to move to the area to fill new job vacancies.
Rising inflation since Labour were elected to government also
has a negative financial impact, but the main avoidable hit to Crawley
Borough’s Council’s budget was the Labour Government’s National Insurance rise
that kicks in next month. Shockingly, this has a net negative impact of half a
million pounds and many services had to be slashed as a result, as well as some
inflation busting rises in charges.
Of concern is the significant £185,000 cut to neighbourhood
street services that the Labour majority on the council forced through. My
Conservative colleagues and I had tabled an amendment to reduce that cut by 40%
but Labour councillors voted it down.
There were two cuts that we were able to limit and I’m
grateful to Labour councillors for supporting our requests to stop their
original proposal to cease providing grounds maintenance for Crawley’s bowling
greens and the croquet lawn at Worth Park. The other one was halving the proposed
funding cut for town centre events, recognising how much town centres in
general are struggling, including our own one.
While we had tried to halve some increases in charges, Labour voted us down. Sadly, the following rises will happen. Cemetery fees 15%, garden green bins 10%, pest control 10%, and garage rents 7%. Plus, with no explanation yet as to how it will happen, Labour budgeted parking income to increase by nearly £400,000.
I can only imagine the outrage and election leaflets from Labour Councillors in Crawley had we Conservatives been running the Council and had tabled such a budget. That and this budget, tells you everything about the Labour Party in Crawley.
