15 December 2023
The Labour led City Council has been forced to issue a Section 114 notice. This is because they predict that they will spend £23 million more than their income in the coming year.
A section 114 notice means that the council will be restricted in its spending and cuts are inevitable. The rich won’t suffer much, but others will.
Council Leader, David Mellen, blames the Tory government, and up to a point he is right. Over the last 13 years the Conservatives have cut £100 million from Nottingham’s annual budget, at a time when the cost of meeting responsibilities is rising. The council is legally responsible for the social care of adults and children. The number of people needing such care has risen significantly. So has the cost of providing it, and yet the Tory government continues to pile on cuts to local councils.
The government cuts are so deep and so widespread that one in five councils in England think they will be in a similar situation to Nottingham within the next year.
Times are tough and are going to get tougher. We are short of money. When you are strapped for cash, you need to be careful. You need to be careful what you spend your money on, and you need to be careful to keep good accounts.
Our Labour council has not been careful as to what it has spent its money on, (even David Mellen acknowledges there have been mistakes) and they have not kept good accounts.
Robin Hood energy failed, costing the City millions. The Broadmarsh is partially demolished, with no funding to replace it, and the closure of the Castle happened on the Labour Watch.
When it was discovered that over £40 million had been transferred illegally within the council, Ernst and Young were commissioned to review the Council’s books. Despite calls from all sides for transparency, the council said that it would only provide a summary as “it might impact on further activity”. Such as what? You might ask.
Even the summary is damning. The financial management of the Council was found to be “not fit for purpose”. Ernst and Young uncovered a “work culture that was not properly following accounting rules”. They were also concerned about the council’s inability to find documents.
We still do not know what is in the full report, and we join others in calling for its publication.
The council has spent carelessly and been careless in its keeping of accounts.
The Government is principally to blame for the “bankruptcy” of our Council, but the Labour controlled council has made matters worse.
Remember that this is a council of 55 seats, 51 of which are held by Labour. Before that they held 50. Democracy works best when there is a strong opposition to hold the governing party to account. The Labour Council have not been held to account. They should be.
The Tory Government should be held to account at the next election.
As a Nottingham Green Party we will be fighting to make sure there is an effective opposition in the Nottingham City Council chamber, this city deserves better
