Liberal Democrats claim victory over Labour Council Tax Proposals

A storm of public opposition has forced Chesterfield's Labour Council to freeze Council Tax and drop its controversial thoughts of a 3.5% Council Tax hike. Commenting at the Borough Council's budget setting meeting, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr Ray Russell explained:

"Last year every Council in the country accepted extra funding from the Coalition Government so that they could freeze Council Tax altogether. This year over 90% of Councils are doing the same but instead Chesterfield's Labour Group wanted to reject government money and raise Council Tax by 3.5%, taking nearly £150,000 out of the pockets of Chesterfield residents - with very little consultation.

On hearing this, Chesterfield Liberal Democrats rushed out a Borough wide leaflet to alert residents . The storm of public protest, which resulted in over 1,400 objections to any rise, has helped bring about a Council tax freeze for all Chesterfield residents."

Cllr. Russell continued: "Labour should make savings in other ways, rather than looking to take any more money from hard pressed families at this difficult economic time. The Liberal Democrats, when in power between 2003 and 2011, improved services and facilities whilst also saving Chesterfield's Council Tax payers millions of pounds. This was done by modernising the management of waste collection, back office services and Tapton Golf Club by involving trusts and the private sector where appropriate. Labour should be continuing this modernisation of service delivery rather than looking back to the 1970's where the Town Hall delivered everything themselves in-house which kept costs high".