COUNCIL Leader Matt Dormer says he is optimistic about the year ahead in Redditch – despite rising inflation, soaring costs, staff shortages and a one year grant settlement from central government that makes it impossible to plan for the future.
“Things are not as bleak as we once thought and the pressures aren’t as great as we initially anticipated,” he said.
“I’m optimistic about the future but if difficult decisions come round the corner we will not shy away from taking them, but only as a last resort.”
He was speaking after the authority’s executive committee had voted to recommend a 4.1 per cent increase in council house rents, a rise below the rate of inflation, currently at 5.4 per cent.
Vision for Redditch: Councillor Matt Dormer.
“It’s still massively below market rates, but this is the market we are in and hopefully tenants will be sympathetic as we are trying to provide a service,” he said.
The committee also recommended increasing charges for the use of council facilities, by broadly five per cent.
The hike comes against a backdrop of rising costs right across the country.
“This is not just a problem in Redditch; the cost of materials, wages, are all going up,” he said.
“We cannot get contractors and we’re losing staff, skills are sparse and when we try to recruit we are really struggling, but this is a problem nationwide.
“We want to really push apprenticeships to grow our own talent – we need to show people what they can accomplish and what they can be.”
Planning for the future had been further hit by the government’s miserly one year grant settlement for local authorities in the UK.
“It’s just not cricket – what we wanted for something looking a bit more into the future, you can’t budget on a one year settlement.
“But, when the budget comes out, it’s not going to be as bad as we first thought.
“I have confidence in our officers, in fact, I can’t praise them enough. we have some fantastic staff doing a great job.”
