Yesterday, the Tory Vale of White Horse Cabinet decided that next year’s budget will contain NO discretionary growth bids at all. They also decided to stop all optional capital projects, such as the new leisure centre in Wantage and any other bricks and mortar projects.

All potential capital projects will go into a waiting bin until there is money to spend. Then each project will be considered based on affordability.

Finances are very uncertain for local authorities right now. It’s still not known how much we’ll have to spend and what the sources of funding will be for the medium term.

Generally, I like to blame the Tories. This time though, considering the situation they’re in, the local administration is doing the right thing by halting spending. It’s the Tory national Government stitching us up so there’s not enough money to provide the services the residents expect. Well, that, and the fact that local Tories haven’t raised council tax over the years in order to keep the funding coming in. So after all, I do blame the local Tories. They’ve brought us to a place where we can’t afford to do the things we’ve planned to do.

Government was supposed to announce the funding this past week. But they say it was delayed due to the Brexit debates and vote.