Councillor Gale Waller, Leader of Rutland County Council, has given Oakham Nub News an exclusive statement about the work the council has been undergoing in 2024, as well as plans for the future. 

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"For many of us, it doesn't seem possible we are at the quarter point of the 21st, century with memories of the millennium still very vivid. As we start 2025, I should like to reflect on Rutland County Council's (RCC's) last year and there's only one place to start: the budget. 

"When I took over the Council's leadership in May 2023, I swore to get RCC's finances under control before my term of office was over. This was no small task as the Council was managing its budget by using reserves and reserves don't last forever! A transformation programme to reduce spending and increase productivity had begun but with no guarantee it would have the desired outcome. 

"In this past year, therefore, we had to take the very difficult decision not to award a contract to run Catmose Sports Centre. Had we let the contract the contractor would have kept the fees from users and charged RCC around £1m over the contract's life. The Council would also have been liable for any unforeseen additional costs, such as energy price rises or increased staff costs, for example arising from increased national insurance. 

Rutland Council saw mass local protest against the closure of Catmose Sports Centre but could not afford to keep it open (Photo: LDRS)

"RCC could not afford this additional liability as we must reduce spending to match our annual income. Our income comes mainly from Council Tax, with about 20% coming from government grant. When we made the sports centre decision, we didn't know what government grant we would be getting in the future. Now we do. The Government's decision to scrap the Rural Services Delivery Grant in the next financial year has reduced RCC's national grant funding by over 10%; further savings must be found. 

"It has not all been doom and gloom though. RCC received Levelling Up funding from the previous Government. This is largely capital funding (i.e. to be spent on things, not running services) but has helped us with our transformation of public transport by allowing us to purchase electric vehicles to run a better, cheaper bus service. There will be a few fixed routes alongside a mostly on-demand system, which means residents in villages not previously served by a bus service will now have access to one by the end of 2025. This improvement for many residents will also be cheaper to run than the current bus service, helping us to balance our budget. 

"A new year is also time to look forward. The Government has made changes to the National Planning Policy Framework which, among other things, will require RCC to build 264 houses a year (compared with the current target of 123). This will be a very significant challenge. When RCC last asked landowners to suggest sites for housing in 2022/23, we had a good response. Some sites were rejected because they did not satisfy our planning policies (for example, they were in open countryside) but even if all sites had been accepted, we still would not have had enough to deliver 264 houses per year. 

"Many readers will wonder why we cannot meet this new requirement by building at St George's Barracks in Edith Weston and Woolfox, just off the A1. Both sites would take time to develop. St George's Barracks is still being used by the military until 2026, after which the land would have to be decontaminated before any housing could be built. Equally, many issues would have to be overcome at Woolfox before housing could be delivered; not least satisfying National Highways regarding access to and from the site via the A1. These sites do not offer an immediate solution. 

"There may be some respite, however. We are submitting our Local Plan for inspection in the Spring and, once approved by the Independent Inspectorate, the numbers contained within it (123 houses per year) will be our target rather than the new, higher, figure. The Inspectorate normally takes a year to approve submitted Local Plans. We will need to begin reviewing ours immediately to demonstrate how Rutland can achieve the higher housing target, but the respite afforded to us by getting a Local Plan approved will allow us to plan for this larger figure. 

"The other big change announced by Government just before Christmas was around devolution and the abolition of county and district councils in favour of new unitary councils. This will not immediately affect RCC, as we are already a unitary authority. However, the Government is expecting new unitary councils to be much larger than Rutland; setting an initial figure of 500k residents. I have started discussions with the leaders of neighbouring authorities as it would be in our interests to drive change, rather than having it forced on us. This is the same proactive approach we have taken with the Council's budget and the approach we will continue to take throughout 2025 – making the decisions that are in Rutland's best interests, even if they're difficult. May the New Year be good to you."

Gale Waller  

Leader of Rutland County Council