Star comment: Tidings of gloom for new year

Let us explain. It is not that we do not wish our readers in Shropshire Council's area these things. The problem is that the new leader of the council, Malcolm Pate, has delivered a Christmas message full of gloomy tidings.

And, according to Kuldip Sahota, the news isn't much better for those living in the borough of Telford & Wrekin.

Mr Pate has said it as it is. We may be missing the snow and sub-zero temperatures this festive season, but for councils it is financially freezing. The New Year, he says, is going to be a very challenging time for the council because the scale of cuts from the Government are of a magnitude never seen before.

"It is clear that over the life of this Parliament, councils will have to become largely self-sufficient, raising their own income locally to provide the services vulnerable people need, and in addition the services that local people want," he says.

This is already the trend in a number of key areas. It is the introduction of the Do It Yourself philosophy of providing local services. If Shropshire Council does not do something directly, then it saves money.

What it means is that that thing which is hardly mentioned any more, the Big Society, will have to step in. Salopians are going to have to do for themselves what was once done for them by the council.

In the realms of the non-core services, a Big Society effort is what is going to be needed, but in practice the danger is that we shall end up with the Small Society, without libraries and services, as there is a limit to what can be supported by local people.

Were Shropshire Council to employ Father Christmas at the moment Santa would probably be climbing down chimneys and leaving messages for children saying: "Make your own toys". This is of course an exaggeration – in the current climate Santa would struggle to avoid being cut.

Councillor Pate would no doubt rather not have had to throw a gloom blanket over the festive season. But he could hardly have spoken with cheer and optimism, seeing what is to come in 2016.

Shropshire Council is in the same boat as councils up and down the land. The coming 12 months are going to be a real test of its leadership.