AFTER doing little to challenge the controlling Labour group’s financial investments in the past, the opposition Lib Dem’s now fear for the ongoing financial viability of Warrington Council.
This follows the publication of a shocking report to the Scrutiny Committee by Warrington Worldwide, which contains details of the overwhelming pressures faced.
Opposition Leader Cllr Mark Browne says, ”I find it difficult to believe what the report tells us. We knew things were bad but it is much worse than we thought. The details are all in the report and have been reported in the press. There was a £95m overspend in 2025/26 which was covered by £85m from Government Financial Support and £8m from raiding much depleted reserves.
Right from the start we opposed risky commercial investments like Redwood Bank and Together Energy. We voted against the Budget for this year because we didn’t believe the savings forecasts. There is now a belated admission that the savings and income targets were far too optimistic and have not been met. It turns out that rescue money from the Government has had to be spent on redundancy packages rather than transformation projects. We acknowledge there have been intense pressures on many services and especially Adult Social Care and SEND. The Council has been hit by a £42m charge for the mysterious and highly complex topic of Minimum Revenue Provision following an Independent report. Six years of Audit are outstanding, which undermines public confidence.”
Finance spokesperson Cllr Ian Marks adds, “in all my years as a Councillor, this is far worse than anything I have ever seen before. There are massive shortfalls just about everywhere. We do not understand why these problems are only emerging now. What has happened to normal management processes? What guarantees have we got that the situation is going to improve in the future? Why should we have faith that the Budget being prepared in September, months ahead of normal, will be delivered? The money from the Government must be repaid and is not a free gift. What are the costs of the Envoys and all the extra staff being taken on? Will the delayed disposal of Birchwood now be a ‘fire-sale’? We also have concerns about the morale of staff who are under intense pressure.
“Warrington is a successful town but there is a complete disconnect between this and the perception of the Council. Members of all Parties want the Council to succeed but we need better communication on why things have gone so wrong. It would be a disaster for our town if the Council went into ‘bankruptcy’ and services were even more drastically cut. We urge Scrutiny Councillors to ask some searching questions to help explain the dire state in which we find ourselves.”
Yesterday, Warrington Worldwide published details of Wednesday’s Scrutiny Committee report into finances and earlier today outlined the ongoing issues with six years of unaudited accounts.
While the Lib Dem group did question some of the council’s investments, the vast majority went unopposed.
Local Tories were ridiculed at the time and accused of exaggerating the facts, often accused of being “nasty.”
