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ABC News
22 minutes ago
- Business
- ABC News
Regional SA councils struggling to pay for roads call for fairer funding model
South Australian councils say the system for funding road upgrades and maintenance is unbalanced and unfair. Wakefield Regional Council is responsible for a 2,687-kilometre road network, which is longer than the distance between Adelaide and Perth. The council has a lower-than-average population of 6,780 people. It means the council has a lower annual revenue to fund road projects. "Three or four years ago we did a complete analysis of our road network and we worked out we had a $16 million backlog of road upgrades waiting for us," Mayor Rodney Reid said. He said the council created a program to address the backlog by allocating additional money every year for a 10-year period. "Even then, after 10 years, we won't get it back to zero, that's the level of difficulty a regional council like us faces," Mr Reid said. He said the funding demand for road upgrades and maintenance meant the council had to put off other projects. "We've got masterplans for various sporting precincts and we can't really do anything on it unless we get specific funding for it," he said. Councils receive money from the South Australian Grants Commission, which the state government funds. The federal government funds the state government. Mr Reid said he had written to the grants commission asking for a fairer system for regional councils. The commission said it was examining the distribution process to ensure it was fair. "The commission is currently looking at elements of this methodology, including the proposal put to it by the Wakefield Regional Council regarding the distribution of identified local road grants," a spokesperson said. A state government spokesperson said the commission was an independent body that made recommendations for the distribution of grants in accordance with Commonwealth legislation. South Australia receives 5.5 per cent of the identified local roads grants component of financial assistance grants. However, South Australia's population represents 7 per cent of the nation's total population. It has 11.7 per cent of the nation's local road network. The Mid Murray Council has a population of 9,160 people and the second largest road network in the state at 3,386km. Its chief executive, Simone Bailey, said regional councils did not receive enough funding from the federal government. "A lot of that money from the feds is going to councils in the metro area, who don't need funding," she said. A parliamentary inquiry is examining the sustainability of local governments, with an interim report from February highlighting a need for increased funding to Australia's 537 local governments. Wakefield Regional Council received $4.7 million over five years through the federal government's Roads to Recovery program, while Ms Bailey's Mid Murray received $5.8 million. The City of Onkaparinga in Adelaide's south, which received $20.9 million, is responsible for a smaller road network of 1,530km. Ms Bailey said her council's cost-cutting measures, such as closing the Mannum Pool last summer, had hit communities hard. "It was costing us $35,000, which, maybe to some other councils that's not much but for us, it's a lot," she said. "We're not like city councils where we can have huge parking stations or other forms of income. "It was one of the hottest, driest summers on record and the town of Mannum didn't have a pool." A total of 0.51 per cent — $3.45 billion — is allocated to local governments in this year's federal budget, with some council funding put up for tender as competitive grants. Southern Mallee Council Mayor Ron Valentine said a tender system favoured larger councils. "It's prejudicial against small councils like ours because the big players in town, big growth councils, have professional grant writers, directors and all the support teams to be able to come up with really great glossy tenders," he said. "Even if we wanted to put a tender in, it's problematic because we don't have all those assets to put to it. "And then, there's no guarantee you're going to get the money." Mr Valentine said he had raised his concerns with federal government representatives. He said the government already knew who needed funding. "What's not coming is enough money from the federal government to do it," he said. Federal Minister for Regional Development Kristy McBain said the government had initiated the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Financial Sustainability of Local Government, which was the first of its kind in two decades. "We look forward to receiving the final report of the inquiry," she said.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Swiss town left under rubble after chunk of glacier breaks off
Blatten's 300 residents had already been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble.
Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Reform to end gold-plated pensions for council workers
Reform UK has unveiled plans to reduce gold-plated staff pensions at the councils it won from Labour and the Tories at the local elections. Richard Tice, the party's deputy leader, said it would take an axe to final salary schemes, describing them as unaffordable and an 'outrage'. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said Reform-controlled authorities would stop offering such generous terms to new recruits. He added that staff on existing contracts would have to accept lower annual pay rises to balance out the huge cost of funding their retirement. Nigel Farage's party won control of 10 councils across England last month, marking its major electoral breakthrough. It did so on a pledge to find huge savings, promising to end local authority focus on diversity and inclusion schemes and hitting net zero targets. 'Country is going bust' Mr Tice is fronting efforts to free up money that could be reinvested in improving services like bin collections or used to freeze council tax. He has identified wasteful and underperforming pension schemes as an area where Reform councils can save hundreds of millions of pounds. 'Whether people like it or not we should not be employing people on defined benefit contribution schemes,' he told The Telegraph. 'It's an outrage – the public can't afford it. It's absolutely ludicrous, and this is why the country is going bust and it's all got to stop. 'We're going to have to go to war with these people. Our job is to wake people up as to where their money is going and why we're all being ripped off.' Mr Tice said under many gold-plated pension schemes councils were having to contribute up to 30 per cent of their officials' salaries. Such final salary schemes are substantially more generous than those in the private sector. He said that if staff are on such terms 'then candidly that has to be taken into account when you look at people's annual pay rises'. 'You look at the overall cost of employment and if they're not prepared to then a whole load of people are going to have to be made redundant,' he warned. 'Councils are going bust all over the country – the country's going bust, and until we've come along no one dared admit it.' Last year it emerged that a quarter of council tax revenue was now being spent on pension schemes that are 'unjustifiably generous'. It means the average household is now contributing £230 a year to the retirement plans of officials who, on average, earn nearly £40,000 a year. Last year local authorities contributed almost £7 billion to staff pension pots, The Times revealed, making them one of their highest costs. Mr Tice said that, as well as the generous contributions, many councils were also investing in 'woke' pension funds that were underperforming. He said Reform would be examining how much money was being put into net zero funds and whether they were making below average returns. The councils controlled by the party could also save upwards of £200 million a year just by renegotiating the investment fees they are charged, he added. 'I can smell the taxpayer being ripped off,' he said. 'Their council tax is being gobbled up by pension fund contributions because they're overgenerous and they've been badly managed for decades.'
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Forceful bike campaigners can undermine UK cycle lane planning, report finds
Few things rouse the ire of disgruntled road users more than cycle lanes. But a report has unveiled a surprising obstacle for local councils when planning bike infrastructure: cyclists. The study, based on interviews with dozens of councillors and local officials who lead on transport projects across the UK, found that opponents of bikes lanes and similar projects were the most uniformly hostile, but sceptical cycle campaigners were some of the harshest critics. The research, published in the journal Local Government Studies, found that slightly less than one-third of interactions about new projects with pro-cycling voices were seen as negative. One respondent to the research wrote: 'Cycling campaigners are mostly counterproductive due to their rudeness.' Another said they felt that councils 'find it harder to advocate for more cycle infrastructure, not because people don't like it, but because people feel that (from their impression from social media) nothing we ever do will make cyclists happy'. As another put it, while social media posts from cyclists might be aimed at pushing for more action, they 'can massively undermine [cycling's] case, particularly with sceptical councillors'. In a wider lesson for campaigners of all stripes, the nearly 50 councillors and officials who responded to the study said that while people on social media were often opinionated and noisy, they tended to be listened to less then those who chose other ways to communicate. Asked to list the forms of engagement most influential on eventual decisions, the councillors and officials almost all cited emails and face-to-face chats, with posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites seen as much more peripheral. The study, by Dr Alexander Nurse, a reader in urban planning at the University of Liverpool, found multiple concerns about a 'very toxic' and 'often abusive' debate about cycling, although this was primarily down to opponents, and often those posting anonymously on social media. This occasionally went beyond virtual targeting, with one councillor describing having details of their address and family published as a threat, while another respondent said they were followed in the street and their family was abused. Such extreme opposition, the report concluded, generally seemed to be less a reflection of actual local sentiment than, as one person called it, 'misinformation … from the libertarian fringe or organisations'. Nurse said: 'This study reveals the shocking extent of abuse directed at public officials, some of which spills into real-world intimidation. One respondent even feared for their children's safety. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'While social media is a powerful tool, it doesn't replace traditional methods when it comes to meaningful community engagement. 'Interestingly, we also found that well-meaning but overly forceful advocacy –particularly from pro-cycling campaigners – can sometimes undermine the very schemes they are trying to support. 'Although focused on cycling infrastructure, the study has broader implications for local democracies worldwide, especially those grappling with complex issues, such as climate action, urban planning, housing and public space.'
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council new chief executive
A senior Dorset Council officer has been announced as the new chief executive of another local Dunn, who currently holds Dorset's finance brief, is moving to take control of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) is taking over from Graham Farrant, who announced his retirement earlier in 2025. Mr Dunn is expected to be on a salary of more than £200,000 a year and his appointment is subject to final approval by BCP Council on 3 June. His appointment comes after what BCP say was a "rigorous" recruitment authority statement said: "Aidan is an accomplished and forward-thinking public sector leader with over three decades of experience spanning local government, the civil service and the NHS." It added he had played a "pivotal role" in establishing the new unitary authority while working for Dorset Earl, leader of BCP Council, added: "He brings a wealth of experience, energy and enthusiasm and I am confident he will work with members to take BCP Council on the next stage of our exciting journey."Mr Dunn said he felt "excited and very privileged" to secure the role. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
