'No cuts, no job losses' but Wigan council tax rises by 4.99 per cent
and live on Freeview channel 276
On the day Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reportedly failed to produce a “rabit out of the hat” in his budget, Coun Molyneux produced his own by unveiling £2m of new schemes as full council debated the revenue budget which will increase by 7.5 per cent with £271m spent during 2024/25 running authority services.
Trumpeting the fact that Wigan will continue to charge the lowest council tax in Greater Manchester and “possibly the lowest of any other metropolitan authority in the country,” Coun Molyneaux announced a £1m apprenticeship fund and a further £1m community pot to link to the authority’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
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Hide AdHe also unveiled Warrington firm Galliford Try as the chosen contractor for the next stage of Wigan town centre’s multi-million-pound redevelopment promising further announcements in the coming weeks. The town’s weekend free parking scheme is also being extended, he said.
However, the meeting ended with rowdy interventions from the opposition Independent councillors, who slammed the raising of Wigan’s borrowing ceiling to £629m and demanded to know if it had an investment partner for the town centre redevelopment, and, if so, who it was.
Coun Nazia Rehman, Wigan’s portfolio lead for finance, resources and transformation, hit back saying the town was “under-borrowed” at £400m saying: “It is a prudent approach and reflects our resilient financial management.”
She added: “There’s no doubting the pressure on families has been immense. We are stumbling from crisis to crisis.
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Hide Ad“We’ve been forced to make signficant reductions but we haven’t stopped providing any services.
“But we are under no illusions about what the council tax rise means to most of our householders.”
She added that although there were no investment partners yet, there were possibilities that could not be disclosed because of “commercial sensitivity”.
Earlier, Coun Molyneux told the meeting: “Many councils have declared Section 114s [effective bankruptcy] regardless of their political persuasions, but not Wigan.
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Hide Ad“We still have the lowest council tax in Greater Manchester and possibly the lowest of any other metropolitan authority in the country.”
He said the council had been forced to make £180m savings since 2010 but thanks to “prudent financial management” the controlling Labour group was presenting another balanced budget.
“Last year, we set a two-year savings target of £10m which we are on track to hit this year through efficiencies,” he continued.
“There are no cuts or job losses. I am sure many other councils across the country wish they were saying this in their [budget] meetings.”
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Hide AdHe said Wigan was”‘number one” out of any town or city in the country for apprenticeships.
Coun Molyneux said the town’s Future Apprenticeships for Business project will receive a £1m boost.
The scheme provides funds for local businesses to employ their own apprentices, supporting 51 firms to take on 72 young people. The additional £1m will allow the public and private partnership to widen its reach.
Meanwhile, the £1m community fund builds on the previous Community Investment Fund – a key feature of previous Wigan Council budgets – and will this year be linked to the programme to mark the 50th anniversary of the authority.