Cllr Kevin Foster

The City Council this week approved its Medium Term Financial Strategy that sets out the Financial framework the council expects to operate under over the next 3 years. The predictions for 2010 - 2013 are that the council will need to make significant savings to enable it to deliver a balanced budget whilst avoiding high Council Tax rises for hard pressed local families. This is based on predictions that income from areas such as Commercial Rents and Planning Fees will remain flat, or still fall, and that Government funding will be significantly cut as the crisis in the national accounts is tackled. Whilst there are savings required in many areas the Council will continue investing in the services that affect the most vulnerable with an increase of £1m in the annual budget for Children's Social Care Services.

The figure of £70m savings quoted in the press comes from adding together the expected deficits over the next 3 years. Savings equivalent to £31m of that figure have already been identified as part of this years budget process, but more will need to be done. The plan is based on a target Council Tax of 2.5% for each of the years covered by the plan that was supported by both Labour and Conservative groups at the Full Council meeting on Tuesday.

Cllr Kevin Foster, Deputy Leader of the Council said: "As the impact of the recession continues to bite we have to make realistic plans for the future and not bury our heads in the sand. Regardless of the outcome of the next election it is likely that Government funding to local authorities will be reduced significantly as the current rate of public sector borrowing cannot continue. Whilst no firm decisions about what may happen after 2011 have been made, we are predicting that we could see at least £9m cut from the annual Government support we receive between 2011 and 2013. This level of funding loss will leave the Council with hard choices to make and inevitably will result in some job losses, as well as difficult decisions about services that are not part of the council's key priorities."

He added: "I was pleased that, despite our obvious differences, both main parties supported the plan as proposed and recognised the scale of the challenges we jointly must face. It is time to be upfront with the people of Coventry and not pretend that party political bickering would resolve this problem or that hard choices can be ignored."

The full report to Council on the Medium Term Financial Strategy can be read by following this link: http://cmis.coventry.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=14682