Is the Town Mayor opening the Town Council chequebook?

Lest we forget!

In the ever excellent News and Crier there is an article about the Tsunami of cuts at HDC. Our Town Mayor, Cllr Thorpe, dipped his oar into the subject with: "town and parish councils may have to take on extra services". That is a fair warning. But what about the costs? Cllr Thorpe continues: "St Neots Town Council is, through prudent financial management, in a fortunate situation of having a balanced account with good reserves." Another bit of fantasy politics. SNTC is in this position because the Liberal Democrats - Cllr Thorpe was Deputy Leader at the time - slashed their programme by shredding the Forward Plan as the Town Councils finances were out of control. Hardly prudent!


Cllr Thorpe rambles on with: "The transfer of public conveniences from District to Town Council is a perfect example of how we work to maintain facilities by cost sharing with higher authorities." Is it? HDC abandoned they facilities and SNTC took these on at a cost to the Council Taxpayer. So HDC got the kudos of keeping council tax down to 2.5% because the cost has been moved to the Town Council.

The Liberal Democrats are part of the Coalition. Eric Pickles says: "I also urge town and parish councils to exercise restraint and make sure no council tax payer faces an increased bill."