By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
The former Sheriff of Nottingham who was suspended from the Labour Party has refused to vote for a plan to improve the City Council’s finances over fears it could adversely impact residents.
Cllr Shuguftah Quddoos was suspended from the party earlier this year having defied her party’s orders at a seven-hour budget meeting in March.
Councillors had been instructed to push through sweeping cuts to services and jobs, in a bid to set a balanced budget as required by law.
The Labour-run authority effectively declared bankruptcy in November, and is now being overseen by Government-appointed commissioners.
A new leadership team is also in place, with Cllr Neghat Khan (Lab) succeeding Cllr David Mellen in May and Sajeeda Rose taking on the role of chief executive.
During an Extraordinary Full Council meeting on Monday (August 5), councillors were asked to approve an improvement plan.
It details how the authority will deliver budget savings and develop a credible budget for the next year, while ensuring consistent financial compliance, and strengthening forecasting and monitoring of budgets in the future.
However, Cllr Quddoos was the only member in the chamber to abstain from the vote. Some councillors, including Cllr Sarita-Marie Rehman-Wall and Cllr Sam Gardiner, were notably not seated when the vote was cast.
“I welcome change, I thrive on change, and I think the City Council needs change,” Cllr Quddoos said.
“I welcome the approach, councillor led, officer run, citizen focused, because we have to be citizen focused, we tell our citizens that all the time, have your say, talk to us, we want to be the city our residents and citizens want.
“But how many times do we not really listen?”
The improvement plan says there will be “continuous engagement” with the Government, in consultation with commissioners, on future need for Exceptional Financial Support – “including council tax increase above referendum levels”.
Nottingham has already been granted Exceptional Financial Support, allowing it to use asset sales to fund day-to-day operational costs, so it was able to fill multi-million pound holes in its budget this year and the last.
Council tax can only be increased by 4.99 per cent without a referendum, however other cash-strapped councils have been given permission to hike it well above this level as a condition of being granted the financial support.
“We talk about continuous financial stability, which obviously is at the heart of the plan, that we engage with the Government on the Exceptional Financial Support and that we seek to raise council tax through a referendum,” Cllr Quddoos added.
“What else are we doing to meaningfully secure additional funding apart from asking our citizens again, and again, and again, to pay for the cuts that we have to implement?
“I will not be voting for this plan, because I will not be supporting a referendum that raises council tax and does not listen to our citizens.”
Leader of the council, Cllr Neghat Khan (Lab), said she was disappointed Cllr Quddoos would not support the plan.
She said: “Fourteen years of Tory austerity, cutting our budget and our services, has placed us in this dire position. Yet we cannot wait for a silver bullet.
“The improvement plan says the council must change and we must do this quickly. A future council must look, feel and operate differently to the Nottingham City Council that exists today.
“We need to be clear of our role, our purpose as a council and be realistic about what we can deliver and we need to be more effective and efficient in how we operate.”
