'Scandalous' cuts in funding slammed as council tax of 4.99pc is approved in Trafford

The Labour leader of Trafford council slammed ‘scandalous’ cuts in funding from central government as the authority voted through a 4.99 per cent council tax increase, dipped into its cash reserves and agreed huge savings to bridge a near-£25million gap in its budget. That was the assessment of Coun Tom Ross at the budget council meeting for 2023/23 which approved the budget at £209.38m and a £92m spend on capital projects across the borough.

In addition to the council tax rise, the precept levied on Greater Manchester residents for fire, police and the metro mayor is going up by 6.04pc across bands A to H, which means people in the lowest band will pay £234.16, up £13.33 from last year, and in the highest £702.50, up £40. Coun Ross said: “It remains a scandal that local government has borne the brunt of austerity measures first introduced in 2010.

“At the time we were promised we’d see an end of austerity by 2015. This promise rings very hollow when presented with a gross budget gap of £24.86m for 2023/24.” He continued: “The cumulative budget gap since 2010/11 now stands at almost £290m for Trafford.

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“In the meantime, Trafford receives the lowest total spend per head of population across all Greater Manchester authorities and the fourth lowest across all metropolitan boroughs.” He pledged Trafford would continued to campaign as part of the F20 group of lowest-funded councils for the government to introduce a funding floor to quickly bring the borough’s core spending power closer to well-resourced local authorities.

He said: “If a funding floor were set at 90pc of the average core spending power of other local authorities, Trafford would