Councillor resigns from committee after being heard saying c s at meeting
St Helens Green leader leaves new commission after being heard using offensive word at first meeting
Updated
Cllr David O Keefe the Green Party leader in St Helens, has left his position on the council s new Climate Change Commission
Get the best St Helens news with our newsletter dedicated to the townInvalid EmailSomething went wrong, please try again later.
Sign Up Now
When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. OurPrivacy Noticeexplains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.
By Jess Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter
Investment will go into the Gamble building THE 2021/22 budget was officially approved at a full meeting of St Helens Borough Council tonight. This year’s budget includes plans to restore and then reopen both the Gamble building in St Helens town centre and Earlestown Town Hall. A total of £3.4 million has been allocated to the two heritage projects for 2021/22. The Gamble building on Victoria Square will receive £1.4 million for its external renovations, with a further £2.2 million for its interior works in 2022/23.
The Gamble building Earlestown Town Hall is set to receive a boost of £2 million over the next year.
Boris Johnson suspended the 2020 local government elections for 12 months following guidance from the Electoral Commission. There had been some uncertainty over whether they would still go ahead as planned this May, given the perilous situation found across the country. But last Friday the government announced that local elections, which will include mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner elections, scheduled for May 6, 2021, will go ahead as planned. Politically, a big concern is the impact the pandemic will have on campaigning, with parties having to shift to online campaigns as opposed to traditional door-to-door canvassing. From the local authority’s perspective, delivering the elections also poses some extremely difficult challenges from a safety perspective.
Cross-party task group satisfied with St Helens Council budget process A CROSS-PARTY group of councillors have come away satisfied that St Helens Borough Council’s budget setting process for the upcoming year has been “robust and thorough”. The local authority is facing a budget gap of £20.4 million for 2021-2022, with council leader David Baines warning earlier this month that it is “inevitable that frontline, much-loved and much-used services are going to be affected”. A public consultation over proposals to cut £21.9 million from the council’s 2021-22 budget in order to balance the books is currently under way. A maximum council tax precept rise of 4.99 per cent – which includes a 3 per cent adult social care levy – is also expected to be approved next month.