Cabinet Connection: Lora Peacey-Wilcox Leader of the Isle of Wight Council

By Press Release Jan 30, 2023

News about the council may have seemed a little thin on the ground in recent months. In part this is because we have been working non-stop at trying to pull together a workable and acceptable budget proposal for the coming year.

We hope we have produced something that, while it will not cause outpourings of joy, is as acceptable as we could hope to achieve in the difficult circumstances we face at the moment. It’s a difficult budget, certainly, but, when one looks at the context we are working in, it would be just about impossible to do any better.

Last year we anticipated that we would be looking to have to cut £2 million from our Revenue Budget. That was bad enough. However, by the time we came to start the budget exercise in the latter part of last year, due to the effects of the war in Ukraine and the political turbulence nationally, we found that increasing prices and the gift of hugely increased rate of inflation, from the government, meant that our Revenue gap had increased, and overall we had a target of £21m to find.

This is a national problem. However, we have tried to find a way through where others have not. We have seen a number of local councils, including Croydon, Thurrock and Slough, issue a Section 114 Notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy. Others are rumoured to be close to doing so. A section 114 notice tells the government a council cannot set a legal, lawful budget.

We can only act within the boundaries set by the government in Westminster. As has been the case for many years, they restrict what we can do and seemingly try to make it as difficult as possible for local councils to survive, yet we are the ones responsible for looking after children, adult social care, education, waste collections and so on. Yet they continue to cut our funding, and have done since 2010 in the face of growing demand for the services we provide.

Our proposals will be published next Wednesday (Feb 1). We know many would have liked to see them earlier, but we are only just pulling the final few strands together. They will not go to a vote until the full council meeting on February 22, so there is time for all to read and digest what will be continued in the documents.

We have avoided cuts to adult social care support, leisure centres and libraries, providing services in alternative ways. We have been able to honour our undertaking to increase Council Tax Support to the most vulnerable. We have no wish or intention to go bankrupt.

There is much more to be discussed and we will be keenly listening to the views people express when they have read what we are putting forward. We only ask that you bear in mind the bigger picture we have had to construct our proposals within.