The MP for Chesterfield is correct when he says that Staveley Town Council seems to be effectively bankrupt and unable to currently pay some of its bills. The Town Council, like every Council in the UK, can point to the unexpected shock over the last year of record inflation, soaring energy costs and the slow recovery of revenue following Covid and lockdown. However, that doesn't explain why STC is in such a particularly bad state. All Councils are supposed to have cash Reserves to help them deal with unexpected crises of this kind. But Staveley has none, why not?
Only 33% of Councillors are women and this has been glacially slow to improve over the past 20 years. A report into Local Government by the Fawcette society found that; "At the current rate of progress in English county councils, it will take 48 years for us to reach gender parity. In Welsh councils, it would take 82 years, we can't wait that long".
Up to 110,000 children may be missing out on a free school meal because the Government has frozen the eligibility threshold for four years. The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of using the freeze to snatch school lunches away from children by stealth.
Far too many people are struggling to get a GP appointment when they need one, leaving them waiting anxiously for the care they deserve.