Category — Matthew's blog

The news made me dig out rises in Staffordshire over the last decade - which would you prefer… 70% or 2% ?

The Government were hoping for council tax freezes across the country this year following their somewhat definitive announcement last year.

Problem with that announcement is that it was aspirational, not definitive, because it is up to local areas what they do. And quite right too in my view because I’m a strong believer in local democracy, local decisions and people making their views known via the local ballot box.

There was an incentive announced by Government pre Christmas in the form of a grant which would allow a maximum 2.5% increase by a council to be covered from the grant meaning a zero rise on council tax bills.

But the complication is that the one off grant has been done in a way which means it becomes more expensive year on year for councils that do that. In short, if an Authority isn’t efficient by default and can’t afford it practically, even the incentive doesn’t make it viable… hence a mixed picture in take up.

In Staffordshire we started working on the big changes needed to reduce the core costs of the County Council immediately we came to office in 2009. It means we aren’t reliant on Government help to keep a lid on council tax here and it also means we haven’t arbitrarily cut front line services.

During our 4 year term in office, all but the first year are a freeze on the County Council’s part of the council tax bill (which is the vast majority). That first year we set a 1.9% rise as the reforms we had started hadn’t yet resulted in the lower core costs that are now in place. Even that 1.9% was one of the lowest in the country.

But the stark difference in the approach politically to council tax levels can be seen in the table above. It shows the last decade of Labour’s unbroken 28 years running Staffordshire County Council saw council tax levels an average of 14 times higher year on year than Conservative’s current four year term.

And the previous 18 years of County Labour were a similar picture. Our philosophy is to take in council tax as little as is needed and not as much as is possible which has been Labour’s approach.

Labour controlled Stoke on Trent City Council are the latest Authority to announce a 3.5% rise in the council tax people will pay this year. Districts and Boroughs in Staffordshire will make known their council tax levels shortly.

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I learned so much I didn’t know when I met with their CEO and Deputy CEO this week…

The original St Giles Hospice is at Whittington near to Lichfield and there are also facilities in Walsall and Sutton Coldfield as well as community based services across the area.

I hadn’t realised exactly how St Giles Hospice had come about. I knew it began at the former St Giles Vicarage in Whittington but that was about it. 

In fact, in 1983, the then vicar, Reverend Canon Paul Brothwell, became concerned at the care available to terminally-ill patients in local hospitals and set about providing some beds in the vicarage for a few local people to be cared for in the most compassionate way possible.

Those early beginnings have grown into the modern St Giles Hospice we see today. The original principles remain unchanged and they now strive to offer specialist care in a variety of settings for patients with cancer or other serious illnesses, as well as providing support for their families and helpers.

It is the current scale and scope of their work which I was surprised about. I knew they are a major hospice service but hadn’t realised quite how big… one of the biggest in the country.

The ninety minutes I talked with Peter and Emma was immensely useful and a key element was around the need, and opportunity, for greater collaboration than ever before with NHS and Social Care services in Staffordshire.

Much of what we talked about sits very well with the ongoing work in Staffordshire to make the many different parts of the healthcare system here work and collaborate better together. We’ll be meeting again shortly to see how we can progress things.

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How Staffordshire is bucking the trend in employment and economic growth has caught national attention…

Ok, nowhere is ‘flying’ in economic terms but it is a statistical fact that our county is doing far better than just about anywhere else in the UK.

It hasn’t ‘just happened’… as I’ve said many times before. We’ve worked hard to up the anti on the attractiveness of Staffordshire as a place to do business nationally and internationally. And it’s working!

We’ve supported viable businesses, where banks have failed to do that, right across Staffordshire meaning hundreds of new jobs created and saved. And we’ve invested heavily in apprenticeships, new start up business parks (in the right places!) and generally providing infrastructure and practical reasons for external investment.

So it certainly is working. And it’s because of the approach we’ve taken in Staffordshire which is very different to other parts of the UK. A different political approach and an inbuilt understanding of what business wants and how it works… but also how this fits with Staffordshire’s communities.

The visit by Michael Heseltine, who is tasked by the Government to oversee economic recovery initiatives, is in recognition that we’ve made progress in Staffordshire against the national trend.

So, as I say, we’re not exactly flying but Jaguar Land Rover, Amazon, Associated Parcels and countless others relocating to the county appears to be a trend which is set to gain pace.

Good for jobs and people’s pockets, and good for Staffordshire.

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I’ve been against it from the start for economic reasons and I still remain entirely unpersuaded!!

Today’s announcement by the Sec of State for Transport isn’t, to be fair, unexpected but is unwelcome.

And not just because it would rip a swathe through some of the most fabulous countryside in Staffordshire but also because from a cold assessment of the business case it’s massively risky.

Not just the risk, many say liklihood, of it not creating the growth that’s claimed but also because it could even damage the economy of the Midlands by sucking more investment from here down to London.

I don’t agree with HS2 and see it as a black mark against what is, in the main, an effective  time in office nationally for the Governemnt trying to set the foundations that will be better for the UK in the future.

We’ll see where things go from here!!

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