Originally Posted by
LTNman
https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/po...-luton-2900579
The above report states that the Council has already been given £11.26m of emergency funding by the Government but they want another £50m to bail out their airport. Let us all remember LLAL was set up as a zero risk company but the Council got greedy and went on a spending spree with borrowed money. Now it is the governments fault where the truth is it is all the Council's fault.
There is a full Council meeting tonight where zombie councillors will ask no questions, as they are devoid of independent thought and will vote the new budget through after taking turns to once again blame the government. They will blame the government because they will believe what the Council leaders are telling them.
Maybe the Board of Directors of LLAL who are all councillors should resign but they won't. They will be in the chamber tonight voting through the budget. Conflicts of interest won't bother them as it is standard practice to vote on airport matters.
I know it is fashionable to blame local government, especially the aforementioned poster, but some points as I understand...
1. In 2010, council funding was around £120-£130m a year from central government.
2. In 2020, council funding was around £10m from central government.
3. Central government encourages councils across the U.K. to look for commercial means to raise funds. Meaning that if there are any economic shocks, local government are in the firing line when they are already 90% down in funding from 2010 levels.
4. LBC have the advantage of having a key national asset in their constituency. It has enabled council tax levels to remain lower than others such as Central Beds, but to raise funds there is no mechanism to increase these above assigned national caps that have already been used this year.
5. Lots of other councils are in the same position.