Lib Dem budget amendment rejected by Labour

5.00.20pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 5th Mar 2008

At the Special Full Council Meeting on February 28th, Cllr Mike Barker, on behalf of the Lib Dems, moved an amendment to the Labour Party Budget. The Lib Dem Group has been campaigning for the devolution of budgets and decision-making to neighbourhoods, wards and local areas. We believe that Cabinet is not the right level to decide neighbourhood issues.

The Labour Council's budget had allowed for an additional £400,000 per annum to be spent on "Community Environmental Works". Our amendment was designed to ensure that the responsibility for deciding how this should be spent should rest with local ward councillors. We believe that local councillors, in touch with, and consulting, local residents in their ward, are the best placed people to decide on local environmental spending priorities.

Our amendment was that the Capital Medium Term Financial Plan be adopted (whether it be the original Labour budget or the Conservative's amended budget) "with the exception that the additional capital expenditure for Community Environmental Works be determined by the relevant Director, who shall be guided in his decision by direct consultation with ward councillors acting individually or in ward groups."

In his speech, Mike Barker reminded Council that the Local Government Association, the Local Government Information Unit and Hazel Blears, the Government Cabinet Minister, have all argued in favour of devolved budgets as a way of re-invigorating local democracy and re-establishing ward councillors as true community champions.

He listed some of the many local councils of all political persuasion across the country that have adopted devolved community budgets. Just as we believe that Councils are better placed than Whitehall to decide what is best for individual areas, so ward councillors and residents are better placed to judge what is needed in their neighbourhoods.

The aim of the amendment was not just to give devolved spending powers to local councillors, but to invigorate local democracy and community participation in decision-making about the things which directly affect people's lives in the areas in which they live.

Our amendment was supported by the Conservatives, several of whom spoke in favour of the amendment. However, Labour Councillors voted the amendment down. Their main argument was that our amendment was a threat to their plans to concentrate their spending on their favoured areas.

For all their claims to be open and consultative, the Labour Group showed that they are stuck in a time warp and believe that only they know best what local people's priorities are.

The fight goes on.