Why the Liberal Democrats Couldn't Support The Budget

On Monday night, full Council sat to discuss the budget for the 2024/25 financial year. A proposed budget had been put forward by the ruling Conservative group and an amendment was put forward by the Labour group. Both budgets had considerable issues and as Liberal Democrats, we could not support either.

Lets start with the Labour amendment. In it they propose that the library building is saved but have u-turned on keeping the library there. Instead, they have proposed that the building is refurbished, turned into an eatery on the ground floor and conference and office space on the upper floors. Whilst this seems on the face of it to have some merit, there proposal has so many holes in it that it just cannot be supported.

They do not put forward a business case to back up the proposals. They talk in 'mights' and 'coulds' and there is no detail as to who would own and manage these facilities, nor any indication of the level of risk that this idea would expose either the council, or Rubicon Leisure to. 

On the basis of this alone, Cllr Kerrie Miles, on behalf of the Liberal Democrats voted against the proposals.

Turning to the budget put forward by the ruling Conservative group, their proposals increased costs for disabled people who use the Dial-a-Ride service, the same people who are already feeling the pressure because of the increased cost of living and years of below inflation rises in benefits. Given this, Cllr Miles and the Liberal Democrats could not support the proposed budget and therefore abstained on the vote.