Local Government Finance - Letter to the Guardian
December 22, 2014 2:23 PM
By John Marriott - Lincoln, Sleaford and North Hykeham in The Guardian - Letters
Originally published by
East Midlands Liberal Democrats 
Dear Sir,
The article by Aditya Chakrabortty on the goings on at Barnet Council could have been written, to a greater or lesser extent, about any major council in England. Those of us struggling to make local government work when central government has reduced its funding so massively over the past few years are familiar with the 'Barnet Graph of Doom' which, in 2012, predicted that we would collectively be staring at a financial black hole of around £19 billion by 2020 unless things changed.
Granted that this particular 'Barnet formula' is an extreme example but, up and down the country in City, Town and County Halls, 'commissioning' is seen as the salvation to our problems. It has its place; but only if councils retain the ability to monitor its results and bodies like the Care Quality Commission, for example, have enough teeth to make sure that firms and organisations deliver according to agreements.
Clearly, we need major reform both of local government finance and structures before we even consider devolving any more powers from Westminster. We could start by adding some bands at the top end of the Council Tax and repatriating the Business Rate. How about looking at Local Income Tax or allowing local councils to retain a couple of percent of the Income Tax residents already pay to the Treasury?
Then let's scrap those County and District Councils that still exist in England and replace them with Unitary Authorities, thus reducing at a stroke the number of officers needed and particularly the number of Councillors, many of whom, from my experience, often sit on both councils anyway.
There's no easy answer to the problem. It may just boil down to those of us who can afford it being prepared to pay a little more for the services that we value. I wouldn't bet on that happening in a hurry!
Yours,
Cllr John Marriott,
Lincolnshire County Council
18 St Hugh's Drive,
North Hykeham,
Lincoln LN6 8RD
Tel: 01522 687965
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