Huge budget cuts for Coventry as City Council battles bankruptcy

Coventry residents are facing massive cuts to public services, after Coventry City Council signed off on new spending cuts in a bid to stave off bankruptcy.

City councillors voted on February 20 to legislate public service cuts worth £8.4 million when they approved the proposed annual budget for 2024/25.

The measures voted through include the switching off of 70% of overnight street lighting and a 4.99% increase in council tax, as well as the suspension of some school bus routes.

Council leaders have previously warned that they face the possibility of a section 114 notice, a measure effectively declaring the council bankrupt, unless they could plug a deficit worth £20 million.

The council, which is Labour-run, has in-part blamed its “financial crisis” on long-term underfunding from the Conservative government in Westminster.

A spokesperson blamed “cuts to our funding over more than a decade, coupled with inflationary pressures and unprecedented and sustained demand to expensive services such as social care and homelessness”.

They added that: “Cuts were always inevitable.”

Councillor Male further accused the Council of having “muddied the waters in an attempt to blame all of their woes on the government”

But Conservative councillors, all of whom voted against the proposed measures, have attacked the nature of the spending cuts.

The Coventry Conservatives attempted to attach their own ‘Responsible Budget’ amendment to the Labour council’s motion.

It called for investment in pothole repair work, and saving the school bus lines that the council had proposed be scrapped.

Councillor Peter Male, who moved the amendment, told The Boar that: “We recognise the considerable scale of the challenge faced by the Council this year. However, we cannot ignore the legitimate concerns of parents who are worried about school transport.”

“We also get reports about potholes and poor road surfaces every day. So our responsible budget amendment focused on protecting those essential services while ensuring responsible use of taxpayer funds.”

Councillor Male further accused the Council of having “muddied the waters in an attempt to blame all of their woes on the government”.

The reality is that nearly every council in the country is having to make cuts, and we are no different

Coventry City Council spokesperson

The Council’s budget has also drawn criticism from its left flank, with local Labour MP Zarah Sultana having expressed ‘concern’ over the axing of school bus routes.

She said that “Every school child should have an easy, safe journey to school” and worried that school children would be left “in the lurch” by the new measures.

She acknowledged, however, that reductions in government funding had put the Council “in an impossible financial situation”.

A Council spokesperson told The Boar that “we are legally bound to set a balanced budget”, and emphasised that “the reality is that nearly every council in the country is having to make cuts, and we are no different”.