"This budget won't hold" Stoke-on-Trent's finances need overhaul says council leader

The new leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council says the authority's finances are in desperate need of a overhaul from the ground up.

"We have inherited a terrible legacy." says Labour's Jane Ashworth.

"The budget that was passed in February will not hold. There were decisions to spend that were unwise, you can't just keep running up huge mortgages that you can't afford to pay back.

"We will make a large number of common sense changes, and where some things Levelling-Up and capital projects can be paused, we may well have to do that.

"Yes, we may have got £56-million pounds for something, but in order to release that money we have to put in £21.8-million of our own money which is mortgaged and will amount to about £40-million.

"This is then paid back by the council tax."

"We need to be very careful that nobody is left behind."

“The multi-storey car park in Hanley made a huge amount of sense when there plenty of shops." added Jane.

“The fact the project went ahead when there was no obvious need for a new car park at that time has left us with a problem.

“Part of the hole in the budget is to do with that car park. We were expecting to generate an income of £630,000 per year from it but this year it’s going to be closer to £200,000."

“It’s a big job to get the balance right.”

Jane said: “When you’re losing money hand over fist, like we are with that car park, you’ve got to stop and think about your whole plan.

“We’re fairly sure people are keen on sensible investment in the city centre, and I think everyone would like to see a good quality city centre but that doesn’t mean we can continue to neglect the high streets and town centres around the rest of the city."

The former administration responded

Responding to comments made to us by Jane Ashworth, the current leader of the opposition at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, and former deputy council leader Daniel Jellyman said:

"As Conservatives were always clear about the difficult financial situation the council faces when we were in power.

"We set a legal and balanced budget in February that reflected the situation, which Labour voted against.

"The Labour Party spent its years in opposition with their fingers in their ears and not listening to the warnings we were giving.

"The news that Labour will potentially axe investment projects and hand back some of the £56 million of Levelling-Up money to government is bad news and will see Stoke-on-Trent held back, whilst our neighbours and other cities move forward."

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