Council tax cash cows ignored in Labour's budget for Newcastle, charge Liberal Democrats - less grandstanding, more delivery needed

I must admit a slight excitement when the budget first landed in my inbox, I thought this was an opportunity for us to potentially turn things around and start truly delivering for people across our city. Obviously this shows my naivety as a new councillor as I couldn't really have been more wrong, Cllr Thom Campion told Newcastle City Council last night.

Although colleagues across the chamber may say otherwise, this budget doesn't actually deliver for the communities who need our support the most, it misses open goals to open up our city, making it more accessible for all and making it a truly world class city, it even misses the most easy open goals of simply cleaning up our city, making it somewhere we can at least be proud to walk around, rather than one where the authority boundaries are obvious through the difference in litter levels.

Instead, this administration continue to pour more money into vanity projects in the city centre, like the unnecessary lighting project planned for Northumberland street, while roads and pavements in my ward crumble. This budget doesn't deliver for the people of Hazlerigg, Brunswick, Dinnington, Kingston Park and The Great Park - it treats my residents as nothing more than council tax cash cows - raising council tax while continuing to cut services.

It's difficult sometimes for us to remember what this budget is really about, while some may see it as an opportunity for the outgoing administration to grandstand about how good a job they've done while patting themselves on the back we know that this is about the real issues faced by people across our wards. It's about the fact that I have cases of people living in council owned properties in Brunswick, literally falling apart from damp. That I have people living in Kingston Park who have been waiting for the council homes this budget boasts about that still remain unbuilt. That people living in the Great Park will once again see their council tax rise while this administration has no plans to adopt their roads and provide the services they're paying for.

Lord Mayor this budget shows how out of touch this administration is, it shows that they don't actually know what residents want and, more importantly, what residents need. It shows that this administration loves to talk but hates having to listen.

Simply put, this budget may deliver the pat on the back in the city centre the cabinet want, but it doesn't deliver on the needs of real people across the rest of the city.