Lezley Picton: In Shropshire, the council is sustainable, agile, and ready for the future

Cllr Lezley Picton is the Leader of Shropshire Council. She is standing down at the 1st May elections, having spent over 40 years in Local Government. 32 years as an officer and the last eight as a councillor. She became Leader in 2021.

As May 1st draws ever closer, incumbent councillors and candidates across England are tramping the streets, knocking on doors, and posting social media content. One thing for certain is that in Shropshire these elections are likely to be the hardest for some considerable time.

Shropshire Council has been under Conservative control since its inception in 2009. The majority has reduced over the years and in 2024 the loss of a couple of by-elections and the defection of two members to a new party entitled “Shropshire First” (nobody is fooled, including the electorate) meant that for the first time the Conservatives held only half the council seats.

What we are hearing from the opposition groups, especially on social media, is a call for change. The problem is, regardless of who is in control of the Council after 1st May, there is simply no financial wriggle room. To ensure a balanced budget the administration has overseen the removal of nearly £100M from the revenue budget over the past three years and with the Labour Government’s settlement leaving us circa £30m worse off than last year, there are circa £28m further savings to be made for the 25/26 financial year. As I said, no wriggle room.

When I read and hear some of the comments on media stories, I am reminded of the mood before the General Election in July. The story being peddled by the opposition is that change is required. This is despite the opposition groups saying they will either force a Section 114 (effectively declaring the council bankrupt) or the plans and policies they have announced will end with the same result. Our challenge is to ensure the public understands that a Section 114 will result in commissioners taking over the running of the council – and the savage cuts to services and increases in council tax that comes with it.

The Conservative Administration has proven, that despite the numerous challenges faced during the past four years (major flooding, end of Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, rising energy costs, high inflation, cost of living crisis), they can adapt quickly and make decisions to meet those challenges.

Despite the really difficult financial situation, we continue to make progress. Transforming the council into one that is sustainable, agile, and ready for the future. We have moved to smaller premises to make significant savings in rates and energy costs. We have invested significantly in prevention in Adults and Children’s Services and we have made major alterations to the overall staffing structure of the organisation resulting in William Yarwood, a senior representative of the Taxpayers Alliance saying:

“Credit where it’s due. Shropshire Council has found £51m to escape bankruptcy without raising taxes or cutting services. How? By axing backroom bureaucracy and senior management.”

Our capital programme continues to invest heavily in Shropshire and our plans for Pyrolysis (first Local Authority in England to do so) has attracted interest from across the UK. (This project will balance the Councils Scope 1 and 2 emissions and in the longer term will produce a revenue income while also producing Carbon Credits).

Despite all of this the challenge for us is how to counteract this call for change.

We know that the Council must be in control of its future, we cannot count on greater government funding and the Government’s ideas for Devolution (read centralisation) will not solve the financial difficulties that most Councils, especially those with responsibility for Social Care, face.

The Conservatives have been the adults in the room, opposition groups continue to promise the world, but buyer beware – how will they pay for these policy changes?

If Labour were our main rivals I wouldn’t be so concerned; as a rural county there is a lot of frustration with the Government’s recent policy decisions, farm inheritance tax, huge increases in housing targets, increased NI contributions etc. However our main competition is from the Liberal Democrats who are so “liberal” with the truth that it is becoming more and more difficult to counteract their wild statements.

Throughout the budget process I heard an awful lot of “we can’t vote for this and we can’t vote for that”. What I didn’t hear, and I am still yet to hear, is what they would vote for! It’s so easy to knock when you’re in opposition, when you have little chance of being in charge. This year the Lib Dems are still to announce what they would do and the Labour manifesto will bankrupt the council overnight.

We, as Conservatives, have never undertaken a “hard ball” campaign”, but times are changing, do we need to bare our teeth? Candidates are certainly stepping up on social media, not allowing untruths to remain unanswered, very different to the “don’t respond, you are just creating more airspace” mantra of previous years.

I should add that it doesn’t help when our own leader states how hard these elections could prove to be for the Conservatives.

I said to my group members, when elected as Leader four years ago:

“What will get you elected in 2025 is your personal vote and your record in the community. You cannot rely on the National Party and you have to counteract the change narrative. You have to show that continuity is important”.

I sincerely hope they listened.