The Conference speech I didn’t get to make

In all honesty, the prospects for being called to speak in a forty minute debate on the crisis in local government finance were always pretty slim, especially in a Party whose strength in local government is very much on the up. But, given that I’d prepared a short intervention, and that nobody really touched upon the aspect I was going to, here it is…

Good morning, Conference, from one of the more unlikely Cinderellas you’ll ever encounter. I’m here to remind my fellow Liberal Democrats of the bit of local government overlooked by the motion in front of you today.

For those of you whose knowledge of parish councils is perhaps limited to Jackie Weaver and the Vicar of Dibley, there are nearly 10,000 town and parish councils across England, ranging in size from Salisbury City Council (which will spend approximately £7.5 million in this fiscal year) to my own Creeting St Peter, with its rather more modest budget. They are led and run by 100,000 mostly unpaid volunteer councillors, spending more than £1 billion per annum.

And the anaconda-like squeeze on local government finance impacts on us too.

The amount we spend is growing fast, as our sector attempts to absorb some of the non-statutory services that hard pressed principal authorities are having to divest or abandon. We aren’t capped in terms of precept rises, which offers obvious opportunities and challenges. But because we are often hyper-local, deeply embedded in our communities, raising funds through precept rises is uncomfortable.

To take on those services that principal authorities cannot fund, and that our residents value, we’re having to gain new skills, professionalise as councillors, access new funding sources. As an example, parish and town councils are now able to apply for funding through the Community Ownership Fund, following a lobbying campaign led by Baroness Ros Scott in her capacity as Honorary President of the National Association of Local Councils.

We perform our role with little help - unlike the LGA, the National Association of Local Councils gets no financial support from central government - and often have a sense that principal authorities aren’t very keen on us.

So, Conference, when you vote overwhelmingly in support of this motion, as I dearly hope you will, please don’t forget about us.