CONTRARY to your front page report in last week's Citizen, there will not be a shortfall in next year's budget. Now is the time of the year when we receive expenditure plans and look at likely income to meet them. Ambitions always exceed resources. My job as chairman of finance is to ensure a balance by cutting back on some plans and generating more income. We have done this every year since 1991.

I can give an assurance that the budget I introduce in February will be balanced within Government capping limits and, unless there are totally unexpected circumstances, there will be some growth, particularly in the areas of housing and the environment.

I note the criticism by the Independent Group of what they call extravagant schemes. In the last few years there have been four schemes which have used up a great deal of our resources - sea defences, the regeneration of the West End, the major developments in Morecambe Centre and the wonderful sports facilities at Salt Ayre. The total cost of these projects is more than £40 million. At least £17 million is coming from council resources. No other items of expenditure are remotely comparable.

The Labour Group is not going to apologise for spending on regenerating Morecambe and on providing such superb sports facilities: we are proud to have done so. The Independent Group has every right to oppose and I can only hope that the electorate will note their opposition to this expenditure.

The next two really big projects will be the Lancaster Millennium Park and Bridge an the SRB scheme for Ryelands. These will both require considerable resources from the council. The money will be there!

Finally, may I comment on remarks made by the Independent Group on the proposed redeployment scheme which we will be discussing with staff. The problem is that council work changes over the years. Our aim is to guarantee jobs even when there is not enough work in some sections. The way to ensure this is, where appropriate, to retain and redeploy staff. We have a policy of no compulsory redundancy... I only wish the same were true for all other employers.

Cllr Stan Henig

Council leader.

We only reported and quoted from a document prepared by senior council officers in which it was stated that, at present, the budget shortfall was anticipated at £2m and that as a result: "...it would seem that cuts will have to be made to the Salaries budget, Supplies and Services budgets as well as increasing fees and charges." I'm sorry if we misunderstood this to mean that the anticipated budget shortfall was £2m and that as a result there would be cuts in jobs and services and increased charges - Ed.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.