Council Leader lobbies Prime Minster for further financial support for local authorities
Cllr Tricia Gilby, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council has written to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson regarding the impact of COVID –19 on Chesterfield Borough Council.
In an open letter Cllr Gilby asks for additional financial support for dealing with the Coronavirus outbreak with additional costs and lost income for the authority totaling over £3.7 million.
She writes ” the financial cost to our council already stands at £3.781 million comprising £1.042 million in additional expenditure and £2.739 million in lost income; figures that will increase month on month for the foreseeable future. ”
Cllr. Gilby expresses her pride in the work of the staff at Chesterfield Borough Council in the response the Covid 19 crisis and the authorities commitment to doing what is necessary to tackle
In the letter Cllr Gilby states “I am nonetheless very pleased and proud to report that Chesterfield Borough Council is playing its part to the full in support of the government’s response.
We are working hard to maintain a full waste collection service, to keep the borough’s streets safe and clean, and our parks and open spaces open to enable our residents to exercise;
We have re-deployed staff to ensure that our 24/7 careline service continues to offer daily telephone and falls recovery support to over 2,500 elderly and vulnerable residents;
We have worked with our neighbouring district councils to provide secure accommodation and support services for all rough sleepers;
Our business rates team worked through the bank holiday weekend to process small business grants and our revenues and benefits team are dealing with unprecedented numbers of applications for universal credit, council tax support and other benefits;
Council staff have been re-deployed to local pharmacies to help them with medicine deliveries, to support the running of NHS testing facilities and to deliver food packages for the shielded within our population;
We have established a Chesterfield co-ordination hub to support Derbyshire County Council’s community response unit to link vulnerable residents to volunteers and voluntary organisations;
We have also made sensitive and respectful arrangements as the sole provider of crematorium services for north eastern Derbyshire; the numbers of cremations are now sadly two and a half times more than the numbers we would routinely be dealing with;
I have no issue with Chesterfield Borough Council making these and other investments; it is what we are here to do. However, it was always on the understanding that the government would recompense us for the additional direct costs of responding to the coronavirus pandemic; and also help us with the income that we will inevitably lose through the period of the crisis.”
For the latest information from Chesterfield Borough Council please visit their Covid 19 Hub at https://www.chesterfield.gov.uk/your-council/coronavirus-information-hub.aspx
Read the letter to the Prime Minister in full.
