Praise for ‘truly heroic’ Mid Sussex council staff

The coronavirus pandemic has cost Mid Sussex District Council between £600k and £700k each month, councillors have been told.
Mid Sussex District Council Cabinet meeting on ZoomMid Sussex District Council Cabinet meeting on Zoom
Mid Sussex District Council Cabinet meeting on Zoom

With most of the council’s income sources essentially grinding to a halt, this could see as much as £6.5m of this year’s £14m net annual budget lost by the end of next March.

The figures were shared during the first online meeting of the cabinet on Monday (June 1).

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Leader Jonathan Ash-Edwards said there was a ‘very significant challenge facing the council in the months ahead’.

He added: “Very significant amounts of the council’s income doesn’t come from council tax but comes from service income in a whole range of areas – and much of that has ceased.”

While welcoming the £1.5m of emergency funding received from central government, Mr Ash-Edwards doubted it would be enough to ease the financial impact brought about by the pandemic.

He told members that major changes to the council’s budgeted plans would be needed and a revised budget would likely be produced in the summer.

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He said: “It is important that we play our part in helping to get people back to work, help businesses reopen, help our communities reopen safely – and to ensure that the economic impact of the last few weeks on Mid Sussex is as little as it can be and that people can bounce back as quickly as possible.

“This council needs to make sure it can get itself in a position to do that. and sound finances are always the number one requirement in that situation.

“That will have to be a significant priority for the weeks and months ahead.”

There was praise all round for council staff, who have played a key role in leading the local response to the pandemic.

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Chief executive officer Kathryn Hall called them ‘truly heroic’, adding: “The entire staff team has really shown what it’s capable of over the past 12-13 weeks.”

That work has included allocating £22m of business support grants to 1,740 local firms – 80 per cent of this eligible, giving 90 homeless households and rough sleepers a temporary roof over their heads, processing an increased number of housing and council tax benefit claims, and keeping the waste and recycling services going.

All these while adhering to more than 110 pieces of government guidance, some of which has been chopped and changed a number of times.

Mr Ash-Edwards said his thoughts were with the families of Mid Sussex residents who had died due to the pandemic.

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And he thanked people who had followed public health guidelines to help slow the spread of the virus.

He added: “I know these weeks have been very difficult for many people.”

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