County council approved budget following a heated row about more money for children’s services

Worcestershire County Council has approved its budget following a heated row about more money for children’s services.

The council has approved its £373 million budget for the coming year but only after a plea to cut the county’s road budget to free up more money to help with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was rejected.

Cllr Mel Allcott, leader of the ‘Unity’ group made up of Lib Dem and Labour councillors, proposed cutting some of Worcestershire’s road maintenance budget for the coming years by £4.5 million which would save around £455,000 in borrowing costs which could be spent on vulnerable children instead.

Cabinet papers show the county council received more in council tax money than it expected which Cllr Allcott said was “an opportunity to make a difference” and ‘now more than ever was a time when the council could win back trust and put its full support behind improving SEND services.’

Just last week, more than 500 parents signed an open letter to the government demanding improvements in support for children with special needs from the council-owned Worcestershire Children’s First.

Cllr Alan Amos, cabinet member for highways, said the proposed change was “daft, dangerous and desperate” and that if backed would result in 65,000 potholes not being filled and 20 miles of road not seeing any repairs.

He added that it was “absurd and dishonest” to suggest the Conservative-run council was not looking after the most needy.

“With all maintenance, you can’t stop and start it on a whim as the opposition seem to think,” he said during the meeting at County Hall on Thursday (February 17).

“Our infrastructure is only so good because we have taken the conscious decision in the last four years to invest in it.”

Councillors when onto approve its budget for the next year which will see council tax rise by 3.94 per cent – almost three per cent of which will be ring fenced to pay for adult social care.

With decisions still to be made on council tax increases in Worcester and the cost of policing and the region’s fire services, the average council tax bill for city band D households is expected to increase by around £70 a year from April.