Maidenhead & Windsor

In the wake of the government's budget blow to the Maidenhead Royal Borough earlier this month, a high level council delegation went to London immediately before Christmas to spell out the serious consequences for the 2006/07 budget.

The four-strong delegation was headed by council leader Maidenhead Cllr Mary Rose Gliksten and lead member for resources Cllr David Eglise. They had a 45-minute meeting with local government minister Phil Woolas, who was "left in no doubt" about the council's deep concerns for the future of local services, thanks to a grant settlement that makes no provision for increasing demand on council services or for developing services to meet local needs.

Cllr Eglise said: "I think we presented our case well and left Mr Woolas in no doubt about the seriousness of the Maidenhead Royal Borough's situation not only for next year but for the future, with the prospect of diminishing funding in the face of higher demands for services. The current method of allocating the grant is inherently flawed and this has potentially damaging implications for our services.

"We also used the opportunity to express our great disappointment about the recent decision by the DfES to reject the Royal Borough's bid for the funding we need to redevelop Holyport Manor School for children with special educational needs. The Minister took this on board and agreed to speak to his education colleagues about the matter."

The Maidenhead Royal Borough delegation presented the Minister with a full briefing about the implications of the recent Formula Grant settlement, which saw the Royal Borough less than £300,000 better off than last year.

Among the points raised with the Minister were:

* The Maidenhead borough's grant represents just £117.41 per head of the local population, compared to the national average of £335.43 for unitary authorities – and four of the six unitary councils in Berkshire have also received more per head.
* Five district councils (which do not have social services, education, waste disposal or major roads maintenance) get more per head than the Maidenhead Royal Borough.
* There are significant increasing costs in both education and social services for providing services for people with special needs.
* The borough is having to pick up the costs of caring for more people in the community – an increase of 10% in the past year - as a result of government pressures for faster hospital discharges.
* The borough is financially penalised because of inconsistencies in the way government grants are awarded.

Maidenhead Cllr Gliksten said: "We made these and other points very strongly to the Minister but we demonstrated very clearly that the Royal Borough was not simply holding out the begging bowl without having done a great deal ourselves to make the council a more efficient and cost effective organisation.

"We underlined the positive and developing outcomes of the Delivering Excellence programme, the new customer service centre and our innovative approaches to procurement, among other initiatives, and I believe he was impressed by our commitment to improvement and efficiency. We presented a strong case for additional funding and we must now wait until the end of January to hear if our determined efforts have been successful when the final grant is announced."

Also on the Maidenhead Royal Borough delegation to meet Mr Woolas were David Lunn, chief executive, and John Taylor, head of finance.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead ~ 28-Dec-2005