Council Leader slams the budget

Councilor Richard Farnell

Rochdale Council Leader Richard Farnell has said Wednesday’s budget was a “missed opportunity” and contained very little good news for the borough of Rochdale and its residents.

Councillor Farnell said: “While the extra money for housing and the homeless was welcome, most of the cash announced in the budget was not new, just recycled figures. It’s a familiar trick with this government.

“It remains to be seen whether the measures announced in the budget will increase in the number of houses being built to tackle the housing crisis. Rochdale needs to be building around 700 affordable homes a year - both to buy and to rent - and developers are building nowhere near that.

“Action to tackle house builders not developing land they currently own is long overdue, as is extra cash to help with the additional costs of developing brownfield sites.

“Most first time buyers in our borough will not benefit from the changes in stamp duty as the majority buy homes under the existing £125,000 threshold.

“The extension for another year of the £1,000 business rates relief for pubs is good news.

“There was nothing in the budget to reverse the swingeing cuts to police budgets. Rochdale alone has lost around 200 police officers since 2010. Crime is rising as a result of these damaging cuts.

“There was no help whatsoever for councils struggling to meet the spiralling costs of looking after our growing elderly population. Rochdale needs around £20m to meet the growing demands on our adult care service. The elderly and infirm were completely ignored in this Tory budget.

“The extra cash for the NHS is nowhere near enough to avert another beds crisis in our hospitals over the winter.”