Airport dividend cushions city council’s cuts programme by £15m

THE impact of job losses and service cuts for Manchester City Council has been mitigated by dividends of £15m from the Manchester Airport Group over the next three years.

The local authority said in October it needed to save between £40 and £75m, but because of the cash from MAG, which it partially owns, the savings target has been reduced to £30m.

The city council says it willo mean fewer cuts to services for children, roads, schools and vulnerable adults. However, council tax will rise over the next two years.

An initial job losses figure of 160 has been cut to 77 based on the new proposals, said a council spokesman.

Since the city council’s initial proposals, the government is allowing local authorities to increase council tax by an extra 3% in the next two years to pay for social care.

The council proposes to use the full increase to raise council tax by a total of 4.99% in 2017-18 and 2018-/19 and 1.99% in 2019-20 to raise a further £17.3m.
More than 1,700 public responses to the council’s initial consultation have now been shaped into proposals.

This further consultation will run until February10 before a full council meeting on March 3.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said “The last few years have been very challenging for the council as we have had to deal with continuing cuts at the same time as increasing pressures on services. This has been exacerbated by unfair government funding settlements which have hit big cities such as Manchester the hardest.

“But we remain determined to do all we can, working with Manchester people and other partners, to continue to protect the vulnerable and give everyone the opportunity to share in the success of the city’s growing economy.

“This budget process underlines this partnership approach as we attempt to strike the right balance which, inevitably, still involves some difficult decisions.”