The fact of Trafford Council being one of only six councils in the country being allowed to increase the council tax we pay by more than the standard 4.99% ceiling set by government has been a shock to people. It’s understandable that residents have asked how Trafford has come to be a special case. I’ve had lots of emails and social media posts. Many of these messages point to cycleway cones on the A56 being the cause of the shortfall in the finances.
I wanted to share below, the reply I am providing to these messages which I hope gives some explanation.
Cycle Lanes
I’ll deal briefly with the cycle lanes first.
We have a problem. Manchester’s roads can’t cope with the increase in cars we’ve seen. We’re nowhere near seeing the peak of car ownership here. It’s increasing every year.
We know where we’re heading if we do nothing but rely on cars for urban transportation.
Houston rush-hour
Several European nations have tried a different model notably Holland, but also includes mayor led cities such as Paris, London and particularly Seville. Citizens are encouraged where they can to use the car less. They’ve managed to halt the spiral of road widening and new highways within the city. At the same time it’s had a positive impact on the prosperity. They’re healthier and wealthier.
So, I am quite happy to justify the ‘why’ this is being done. Why we’re encouraging walking, cycling and public transport.
But the A56 cones?
I’m not going to lie and say the cones on the A56 are so easily justified (at least south of Stretford)edit. They were introduced as a Covid emergency measure. If it hadn’t been for Covid, we’d have gone for a proper appraisal and a proper business case. The last Government made us stick with our Covid measures.
I’d have preferred to come back to the A56 when we’d done a lot more town centre work and worked on crossings to get a quicker return in terms of walking and health. So,I struggle to justify the timing, but we’d inevitably have to implement cycling infrastructure on our main route into Manchester at some point.
Ultimately, I don’t think anybody disagrees with the premise that there would be an increase in cycling if all roads were safe to ride.
In terms of the budget, the lanes have been government funded, so they haven’t impacted on our current financial plight. They do ultimately come from the taxes that you and I pay so I don’t dismiss the criticism.
2025 Council Tax
I’m now going to move on to Trafford’s general budget. Trafford has always had a low council tax.
Other than Wigan, (who for historical reasons have substantial reserves) we have the lowest in Greater Manchester and I’m pretty sure it’s with Wigan as the lowest of all the Metropolitan districts nationally. At the same time we depend on Council Tax more than most councils.
It’s argued that we’re affluent, but that only matters if we use that affluence to increase our income and we’ve deliberately kept it low.
Historically, since Council Tax was introduced in the early 90s, it hasn’t mattered which party was in control of Trafford, we’ve kept it low. I am fairly sure that this is the first time in those 30 years a Labour Council in Trafford has proposed a percentage increase that is higher than the norm for the year.
So, for 30 years we’ve been falling further behind. I’d have preferred us to have put a little more into reserves, but that couldn’t be done while chasing this target of lowest council tax. Put it this way, if we had Stockport’s rate of council tax in terms of our spending, we’d not only be in clover, we’d be giving out rebates back to you!
As it is, you can remain assured that you’re still paying the lowest rate in Greater Manchester (bar Wigan) after this increase.
It’s not a great position this year and I apologise. I genuinely believe we have been so lean in council finances that we were always going to come to a year like this where we need to make a correction.
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