A heated dispute has erupted at Gloucestershire County Council between the former Conservative leadership and the incoming Liberal Democrat administration concerning a claimed “£17 million black hole” in the council’s finances.
The new Liberal Democrat leadership, headed by Council Leader Lisa Spivey (LD, South Cerney), recently revealed the revenue budget plan for the upcoming year, set at approximately £697.5 million. The budget notably includes an additional £15 million investment aimed at improving highways.
However, Conservative group leader Stephen Davies (Hardwicke and Severn) has strongly challenged Spivey’s assertion that the council inherited a £17 million deficit from the previous Tory administration. Davies argues that finance officers have been unable to verify this figure. He contacted Spivey directly on November 25 but reportedly received no response, prompting him to file a formal complaint with the council’s monitoring officer.
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Davies criticized Spivey by saying, “What do Lisa Spivey and Rachel Reeves have in common? They both misled the public ahead of publishing their budgets. Lisa Spivey’s claim of a £17 million black hole simply isn’t true. Our officers can’t confirm this number. When in office, we set a cost-saving target of £10 million, representing about 1.5% of the budget.”
In reply, Cllr Spivey maintained that the Liberal Democrats faced a challenging financial situation from the start. “We inherited a budget that already included £10 million in ‘savings targets’ plus an additional £5.7 million classified as ‘benefit realization targets’—in other words, over £15 million of potential funding reductions,” she explained.
She added that Gloucestershire is further impacted by the government’s Fairer Funding Review, designed to redistribute funds toward areas with higher deprivation. Early analysis predicts the county will lose at least £2 million due to this policy change, pushing the total funding gap to at least £17 million at the outset.
Cllr Spivey concluded, “Despite these challenges, we have successfully closed the gap and generated £15 million of budget headroom dedicated to upgrading our roads, fulfilling a key manifesto commitment. We await the final government settlement expected next week, but we remain confident in this budget’s strength to support essential services including roads, social care, community support, and economic growth.”