Bury council leader tells Haverhill to stop complaining
Wednesday, 2nd July 2014.
In an extraordinarily blunt outburst, the leader of St Edmundsbury Borough Council has told Haverhill people to 'stop carping' about the money his council is withholding from the town.
Cllr John Griffiths was responding to a petition presented to St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s full Council meeting last night, demanding that £32,000 a year of Council Tax Support Grant be restored to Haverhill Town Council.
The Government made money available to parish and town councils to cover a shortfall caused by changes in the way council tax benefits are calculated.
But they made it available through district and borough councils, and St Edmundsbury has decided to hang on to it and not pass it all on.
The total of £129,000 annually to Haverhill is being reduced by £32,000 each year for four years until it comes down to zero.
But Cllr Griffiths listed the cinema, the Leisure Centre, Queen Street improvements, Cleales car park - and even collecting the rubbish - as things which St Edmundsbury had done, and continued to do for Haverhill.
With all this money being spent on the town, he asked, "why in the world are you complaining so loudly about £30,000, or even £60,000?"
He told Haverhill Town Council: “It is not Haverhill Town Council’s money which you are talking about – or ours. The money belongs to the residents of Haverhill. And you - with respect and however important, are not Haverhill, but people elected to serve it.
"Please spend their money wisely, and please, please stop carping."
Earlier in the debate at full council on Monday, St Edmundsbury's portfolio holder for finance, Cllr David Ray, explained St Edmundsbury Borough Council itself was facing further cuts of £1.5m in 2015/16, on top of the £3.5m they had already saved.
He said the decision last year to reduce the support grant was to reflect financial reality but also to give certainty to allow town and parish to plan their own budgets accordingly.
The meeting was told that the £143,700 Council Tax Support pot was divided between 56 town and parish councils in the borough. Haverhill received more than the other 55 combined.
Cllr Griffiths said Haverhill may well have felt neglected in the past - but not since he had made the town a priority after being elected council leader in 2003. He said there had been many beneficial changes in the past 11 years with his council delivering very significant improvements and investment to Haverhill.
“I am proud to stand by the borough council’s track record and continuing investment in Haverhill which has in no small part made it a very different place today than it was ten years ago,” he said.
“We want to work more constructively with Haverhill Town Council, and to continue to support it, as we already do.”
Bury's Cllr David Nettleton said he backed the policy and urged Haverhill Town Council to look to reduce its expenditure.
Cllr Ray proposed and Cllr Griffiths seconded that they should not change the policy about the money, although in a U-turn announced last week after a meeting with Government minister Brandon Lewis, they are to review it next year.
Haverhill's Cllr Maureen Byrne had proposed an amendment that the money should be restored to Haverhill, but Cllr Griffiths' outburst came at the end of the debate and she was not allowed to reply.
She informed members she would be replying in writing.
Cllr John Griffiths was responding to a petition presented to St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s full Council meeting last night, demanding that £32,000 a year of Council Tax Support Grant be restored to Haverhill Town Council.
The Government made money available to parish and town councils to cover a shortfall caused by changes in the way council tax benefits are calculated.
But they made it available through district and borough councils, and St Edmundsbury has decided to hang on to it and not pass it all on.
The total of £129,000 annually to Haverhill is being reduced by £32,000 each year for four years until it comes down to zero.
But Cllr Griffiths listed the cinema, the Leisure Centre, Queen Street improvements, Cleales car park - and even collecting the rubbish - as things which St Edmundsbury had done, and continued to do for Haverhill.
With all this money being spent on the town, he asked, "why in the world are you complaining so loudly about £30,000, or even £60,000?"
He told Haverhill Town Council: “It is not Haverhill Town Council’s money which you are talking about – or ours. The money belongs to the residents of Haverhill. And you - with respect and however important, are not Haverhill, but people elected to serve it.
"Please spend their money wisely, and please, please stop carping."
Earlier in the debate at full council on Monday, St Edmundsbury's portfolio holder for finance, Cllr David Ray, explained St Edmundsbury Borough Council itself was facing further cuts of £1.5m in 2015/16, on top of the £3.5m they had already saved.
He said the decision last year to reduce the support grant was to reflect financial reality but also to give certainty to allow town and parish to plan their own budgets accordingly.
The meeting was told that the £143,700 Council Tax Support pot was divided between 56 town and parish councils in the borough. Haverhill received more than the other 55 combined.
Cllr Griffiths said Haverhill may well have felt neglected in the past - but not since he had made the town a priority after being elected council leader in 2003. He said there had been many beneficial changes in the past 11 years with his council delivering very significant improvements and investment to Haverhill.
“I am proud to stand by the borough council’s track record and continuing investment in Haverhill which has in no small part made it a very different place today than it was ten years ago,” he said.
“We want to work more constructively with Haverhill Town Council, and to continue to support it, as we already do.”
Bury's Cllr David Nettleton said he backed the policy and urged Haverhill Town Council to look to reduce its expenditure.
Cllr Ray proposed and Cllr Griffiths seconded that they should not change the policy about the money, although in a U-turn announced last week after a meeting with Government minister Brandon Lewis, they are to review it next year.
Haverhill's Cllr Maureen Byrne had proposed an amendment that the money should be restored to Haverhill, but Cllr Griffiths' outburst came at the end of the debate and she was not allowed to reply.
She informed members she would be replying in writing.
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