York Council: 'We cannot spend money we don't have' - Council leader vows to not spend beyond its means

At a media briefing on September 12, council leader Claire Douglas made it clear that although pledges are still a priority, the council will be fiscally responsible.

A key pledge before the May local elections was ensuring that every primary school child is given a free meal at midday.

When asked if this pledge would be delivered by the next local elections in 2027, executive member for education Bob Webb said he is “very hopeful.”

But council leader Claire Douglas interjected with a slightly more cautious tone.

“We would like to,” she said. “But we cannot spend money that we don’t have. It’s financial responsibility to take that very seriously and we’re absolutely committed to finding a way of doing it. But we also have to be cognizant of the environment that we find ourselves in.

“I don’t think the city would thank us if we committed millions of pounds to free school meals if we couldn’t deliver children’s services, for example.”

The briefing was held to show the council’s four-year plan amid its financial difficulty; it forecasts that it will overspend by £11.4m without serious money saving.

Equalities, affordability, climate and health (EACH) are the council’s priorities for the next four years and executive members have their own challenges.

Coun Webb has the task of leading the free school meals pledge and improving education generally.

Deputy leader coun Pete Kilbane wants to reduce traffic by 20 per cent by 2030, something that will help co-executive members for environment coun Kate Ravilious and coun Jenny Kent achieve their goal of hitting net zero by the same year.

Coun Michael Pavlovic leads the affordable housing pledge, and is pleased with current progress, while coun Jo Coles is tackling health inequalities in the city.

She pointed out that there is a 10-year difference in life expectancy for men in the poorest parts of York than the richest, while the difference is eight years for women.

Perhaps with the biggest challenge is the woman whose latest task was to explain the council’s difficult financial situation, coun Katie Lomas.

“All of the grand ambitions we all have for our city are massively constrained by the level of funding we receive from the government and we are one of the lowest-funded upper-tier authorities in the country,” she said.

In fact, it is the lowest-funded local authority in England.

Coun Lomas added: “That means we have to demonstrate sound financial management in order to carry on running the city and make decisions in the interest of those who need us most.”

She said while making sure “we’re not the next Birmingham City Council,” the council needs to “maintain a strong focus on what the people in the city who elected us want.”

The City of York Council’s four-year plan will be put to the executive on September 14.