TORIES EXAGGERATED UTTLESFORD'S FINANCIAL PROBLEM. TORY BUDGET SERIOUSLY WRONG AS SERVICES DETERIORATE

10.07.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 23rd Jun 2008

Uttlesford's Liberal Democrat councillors are to ask searching questions on Thursday about the council's financial results for 2007/08 announced this week. The council's net expenditure in 2007/08 was within 1% of the budget that the Lib Dem administration set in February 2007. The Lib Dems want to know why the revised budget set by the Conservatives later in the year was out by 5% and why £1.2 million of council reserves that the Tories claimed would be drained away were not needed.

Commenting on the results, the Lib Dem Chair of The Council's Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Alan Dean, said "These results show at last that the original Lib Dem budget was achievable. The Conservatives exaggerated the financial problem and claimed £1.2 million extra needed to be taken from reserves to balance the books, but that money is still in the bank gaining interest. This looks very much like incompetence.

"Recent claims by the Conservative administration that they saved all this money are simply not true. They never needed it in the first place! They have been found guilty of inexcusably mis-stating the Council's financial situation."

Lib Dem Finance and Administration Committee spokesman, Cllr Geoffrey Sell, said "There seems to have been a serious exaggeration of the financial problem. As a result, a lot of pain has been inflicted on a lot of loyal public servants, many of whom have now gone. Not all of it was necessary.

"The original Lib Dem budget assumed that some staff savings would have to be made. Since we lost control of the council, councillors, our staff and the public were told there was a financial crisis and that £1.5 million had to be found. It seems we were all misled by their rhetoric. The Liberal Democrats will be asking for an explanation at Thursday's (June 26th) Finance and Administration Committee."

Cllr Dean added: "The Lib Dems were 0.9% out. The Conservatives were 4.9% out and guilty of serious errors. We have already had two investigations into the council's finances. Another is looking necessary because people's reputations and careers are at stake".

"Services are being affected by the staff cuts. I am receiving an increasing number of complaints about the development control service. All I get is 'we can't do a decent job because of the staff cuts'. This is both unacceptable and an avoidable tragedy."