On Wednesday the Bedford Borough Council budget for 2014/15 was unanimously approved. During the debate the Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Stephen Moon condemned the Liberal Democrat and Labour administration for having wasted millions of pounds of Bedford Borough taxpayers’ money.
The Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Stephen Moon said;
‘The budget highlights an astonishing absence of political leadership from the Liberal Democrat Mayor. It is astonishing that five years after unification we are still reorganising. This slow process of reducing the staff numbers has lead to prolonged uncertainty and loss of morale. If it had been done within two years as it should the staff would know where they were and Council Tax could have been lower. If the process of staff reorganisation had been properly led by the Mayor it would have saved at least £5 million. Budget Holders are now to be given more autonomy over their budgets, saving £4.7m over 3 years. Why on earth was this not happening anyway? Our neighbouring councils in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire are sharing services and saving millions of pounds. Why are we not a part of that agreement?
‘In the last 5 years there has been no political drive from the Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition to get ahead of the game in meeting the financial challenge. Even in the context of an alleged long term plan savings are only being made in order to meet annual savings targets imposed by the Government. The Conservatives would have implemented the savings a lot earlier with the benefit being passed to residents by investments in services or a Council Tax cut.’