Opposition councillors in Newcastle have slammed the Labour leadership as complaints about services pile up. The Liberal Democrats said there were issues across a range of service areas, including pest control, waste collection and weed control.
Leading Labour figures pointed out that the council has faced significant cuts over the past 15 years. The opposition was also criticised for a perceived attack on council staff, although the Lib Dems claimed the party was only critical of the council’s leadership.
Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of the council, Lib Dem councillor Mark Mitchell said: “At the beginning of September, a resident contacted the council to have a fridge removed. They were told it would take six weeks and to just leave it outside.
“It took eight weeks to get a pest control appointment. I’m not denigrating the city or our council officers, who do a great job – but I’m complaining about the fact that our cabinet will not focus on service delivery and how we can make things better.
“We are not focused on how we can do things for residents, on how we can actually improve our residents’ lives. That is why, day in day out, our inboxes are full of complaints.”
Cllr Mitchell was speaking as he brought forward a motion calling for improvement in the council’s weed control. It follows a similar motion last year that led to significant improvements in the local authority’s grass-cutting regime.
Image: North East Combined Authority
The motion stated that successive Labour and Tory Governments have “paid little interest” to local councils over the past 10 years, and that local government finance was agreed to “no longer be fit for purpose”. It was also acknowledged that these factors had put “enormous pressure” on councils to deliver services in “constrained circumstances”.
However, it also claimed the Labour administration, which has been in control of the city council since 2011, had focused on money-saving measures “without regard to the quality of delivery” and that services were now the subject of “regular dissatisfaction” among the public.
It called on the council to deliver an action plan to tackle “the blight of uncontrolled weed growth” and allow the city council to review this plan. However, Labour presented an amended motion at the meeting.
The amendment blamed the Tory-Lib Dem coalition, which left office in 2015, for beginning the process of cutting council funding. Labour agreed that local government funding was no longer fit for purpose, but pointed to investment of improving neighbourhoods.
This included £1.7 million this year to “improve the public realm” with “enhanced” grass cutting, weed control and graffiti clean-up. The amendment also committed to the creation of a new weed growth action plan.
Labour’s Cllr Stephen Powers said: “The Liberal Democrat motion paints a picture of services in decline and an administration that doesn’t care. It is unfair on the thousands of staff who keep our city running.
“Since 2012/13, local services have faced a £14 million budget reduction. Staff numbers are down 500.
“Despite the level of austerity we have faced, we are still delivering a service that can be relied on. The opposition have refused to acknowledge a decade of cuts and talked down staff.
“Complaints are not widespread. We’re investing £1.7 million to neighbourhood improvements – this is a negative and misleading motion.”
The Labour amendment was approved by 30 votes to 28.
