Shropshire Council budget 'black hole' hits £47 million

The cash-strapped authority says that its budget gap has risen by £10.2 million for 2016/17 from £37.6 million to £47.8 million.

The gap has risen by £4.5 million – from £11.86 million to £16.44 million – for 2017/18, and by £5.1 million – from £7.9 million to £13 million – for 2018/19.

The increase on its original projections, which were published in late January, is largely due to the growth in the council's adult services funding, along with changes to collection funds, and business rates.

The council has already warned that it will have to reduce funding for leisure centres, museums, and parks, to zero in 2017/18, without help from Government.

Councillor Malcolm Pate, the authority's leader, said that costs of providing care for the elderly and the vulnerable were crippling the council.

He has previously said that the extra £8.5 million allocated to Shropshire Council over the next two years by the Government would be swallowed up by the adult social care bill. He said: "We monitor the adult social care budget each quarter and the problem we have is our population is older than the average, using more elderly care than the average.

"We also have a problem of people who run out of money and their payments then continue to be met by us.

"This is one of the problems that we raised with Communities and Local Government Minister Greg Clarke. At the moment the money we should be spending on elderly care is nationally assessed in terms of what they think of we should be spending. The Minister agreed with me that it must be based on individual need and not a blanket assessment. The way we are going, within a few years we will be spending all our money on elderly care and nothing else."

The council's budget situation has been strongly criticised by opposition councillors, who have questioned whether finances are out of control.

Councillor Roger Evans, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "I ask will Shropshire be able to deliver even the statutory services in a few years' time. We are either going to get a spectacular budget announcement later in the year, prior to the 2017 election, or we are heading for a big car crash.

"At the cabinet last week I questioned the future sustainability of Shropshire Council. Shropshire of course is in an even worse state than many other local authorities due to the total lack of economic investment that has been made during the last seven years."

Councillor Alan Mosley, leader of the council's Labour group, said: "Shropshire Council appears is clearly in a financial crisis and vital questions need to be asked of the administration many of whom have been in the cabinet for years.

"It is terrible news for Shropshire residents who face such deep cuts and the removal of vital facilities despite the recent claims of the leader and Shrewsbury's MP of extra funding.

"Many will ask 'What on earth is going on with our services?' and be fearful of the future. These are local Tory cuts at the behest the Tory Government with an ideological commitment to demolishing public services."