Trafford budget 2018 the good, bad and the ugly

So Trafford Council publish its proposed budget plans for 2018/19, and looking through it, you will see some eye-catching things, £14.4m for roads over three years, cheaper parking £4.9m for social care etc.

The council has to save another £40 plus million pounds in three years, so where are they getting all this money from, well the council claims it is from economic growth and investment strategy.

Trafford are now down to £2.2m in reserves, the lowest it has been after another £1.6m was taken for this new budget.

Local elections are taking place this year, is this purely a political tactic by the Tories, making it look like they do care about this borough, so what are they doing to our bit of green spaces? they have only just decided to fix some of our crumbling roads? they will no longer fine you for a late book from April? would this mean people will not bring them back? what are they not telling us here? ever thought that?

You see the electorate will see only what they put on the website or in other publications, not the facts, simply the borough is being run badly and has been for years! Partington was mentioned, the one area that has been neglected the most by this council since they claimed it in 1974.

Trafford councillors, all of them are hypocrites with pollution issues, we have the biggest problem in Manchester, and it gets worse, a projected 2000 more cars in the Partington area once these new housing developments are built, I bring you back to a council meeting that was going very well, excellent work by all councillors in the chambers to tackle our pollution issues, and what did they all do next? started to reduce or even give free car parking space!

In this budget, car parking will be reduced to 20p for half an hour, for the motorist this is a good thing, does this not bring in more cars? more cars = more pollution? more the more cars we have the more chance of collisions, Trafford has to many cars! and the council has just said to everyone “Welcome to our borough with your car, go on pollute us even more”

The budget means an increase in your council tax by around 5% and this is not including the Greater Manchester Mayor budget, and the daylight robbery that is the Partington precept.

The local elections will be here in the next few months, it’s not long away, do not be conned by clever wording, and talk, think for yourself, and take this one seriously, it is vital you do, its not a game anymore, people even in this borough.