17 December 2004
Councils should stop carping and make a low tax rise their New Year's resolution, local government minister Nick Raynsford said last week.
Addressing the Local Government Association's finance conference – councils' annual post-mortem on the settlement – Raynsford asserted that the government had delivered the eighth successive above-inflation increase and stressed that he was prepared to take even tougher capping action than last year.
'It is up to you to play your part and budget prudently,' he said. 'Make that your New Year's resolution.'
Raynsford reminded delegates that recent increases were the best local government had received in years. 'You are seeing real-terms growth and that is not something that you were used to when the Conservatives were in power,' he said.
But there was concern from the floor that the £1bn cash injection did nothing to alleviate the long-term pressures faced by councils,. A delegate from Shepway District Council, one of the authorities capped earlier this year, said: 'Pension costs are hitting hard and making it very difficult for us to hit our percentage targets.'
PFdec2004
