One of the challenges for the Conservative administration in Medway is how best to maintain our high standard of service delivery, and this is particularly relevant as we move into autumn.
Over the next few months Medway Council will receive notification of its cash settlement from government, and although we may not know exactly what the amount is we have some clear indications to go on.
Based on recent history we know Medway will receive a poorer cash settlement than other similar councils, and from that we know that the pressures on our services will continue to grow. We know that the government will continue to ignore the fact that with an ageing population in Medway there is not enough money coming in to service the needs of the elderly.
We know that the government will continue to pour unneeded money into Labour-run councils most likely to do its bidding. We also know that the unfairness in government allocation of cash will continue, and that by doing so the government will continue to show contempt for the people of Medway.
For those of us faced with the responsibility of running Medway there will be stark choices to be made over the weeks ahead. We will have to decide how we manage increasingly inadequate resources to service a growing demand in social care.
We will of course continue to lobby a government that will not listen for a fairer cash settlement. But when that falls on deaf ears — as it does every year — then we will have to decide how we pay for the needs of the elderly, those with disabilities, and the young in need of extra support.
There is no easy answer when faced with a government that on the one hand is generous in its support of our big regeneration schemes — because they meet government housing targets — but miserly when asked to support vulnerable people in Medway.
There will be no easy answers.