Waste at CE

Dear Editor,

The shocking Council Tax increases proposed by Cheshire East Council are a bitter pill that residents of Congleton area are being forced to swallow. We are continually told that these aggressive tax hikes are necessary to protect the vulnerable. But a closer look at the council's finances reveals a far more infuriating truth: taxpayers are being forced to bail out the systemic incompetence and staggering wastefulness of successive national and local governments.

At the national level, we have endured a decade of chaotic policymaking. Westminster has slashed core funding while ignoring the demographic crisis in social care. Furthermore, the sudden cancellation of HS2 left Cheshire East with £11 million in preparatory costs—largely funded by borrowing—that must now be written off at our expense.

However, local politicians cannot hide behind Westminster's failures. Successive administrations at Cheshire East have demonstrated a shocking lack of respect for public money. We are paying the price for the disastrous "Best4Business" IT system, a project originally budgeted at £11.8 million that ballooned to £25.1 million due to delays and mismanagement. We are paying for the council's catastrophic failure to collect legally owed Section 106 money from developers, permanently losing £800,000 that should have been spent right here in Congleton on the Thistle Way estate.

While everyday residents face cuts to highway maintenance and the loss of a recycling centre, the council miraculously finds the cash to pay an interim consultant an outrageous £1,121 a day. Furthermore, it is highly questionable that hundreds of thousands of pounds are still being handed out in community grants to charities when the council's finances are in such a demonstrably poor state.

This crisis was not caused by a lack of taxpayer contribution; it was caused by a fundamental lack of understanding of the value of money. Until our governments, both local and national, eradicate this culture of waste, no amount of tax increases will ever be enough.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Large

Alsager


   

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