Hard-up councils could merge services, Middlesbrough member suggests

Hard-up councils could merge services amid an "unsustainable future", a councillor has suggested.

Stefan Walker, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for finance, said the authority is predicting a budget gap of between £15m and £20m in 2023-24.

He said children's services were particularly under pressure and suggested cash-strapped councils join together for economies of scale.

The government will announce a financial settlement in December.

Appearing before Middlesbrough's overview and scrutiny board, Mr Walker said there could be a "Teesside combined council" for certain services.

He proposed a public consultation be held over over savings worth more than £14m, with street lights, road repairs, libraries, council jobs and school dinners all in the firing line if a planned £5.4m cut goes ahead, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In July, the council's outgoing director of children's services Sue Butcher, whose department overspent by £8.5m last year, told a meeting demand for children's social care in Middlesbrough was the highest in the country with staff shortages becoming an issue.

A recent monitoring visit by Ofsted found risks to children were not being fully assessed in all cases and a quarter of audits were classed as being inadequate.

The council has pledged an extra £2m a year from 2023-24 for children's services.

Mr Walker said: "The only real solution I can see is to have some form of amalgamation [between councils].

"I don't want to see councils merge, I think that would be bad for democracy.

"I do think that we could amalgamate some services regionally to benefit from economies of scale.

"Because of the sheer demand on those services it would make sense to have them amalgamated."

He said further representations would be made to government after the financial settlement announcement is made in December.

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