Oadby and Wigston’s section 151 officer talks to Aysha Gilmore about her job move to South Derbyshire and the disparity caused by the ‘unfair’ local government funding system.
Tracy Bingham is “coming back home”.
After what will be just over a year and a half at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, the section 151 officer will be making an almost 30 mile move to South Derbyshire District Council, an authority very close to her hometown of Coalville.
Talking to Room151, she says: “I spend a lot of time in that district, so I’ve got a real sense of place in South Derbyshire.”
Bingham will be leaving her position as strategic director at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council in June to become the new Strategic Director (Corporate Resources) at South Derbyshire.
“I’m sad to leave Oadby and Wigston – the members have been really clear about their priorities and they have some real financial challenges.
“I didn’t expect to move on so soon, I thought I’d be the person to see them through all of that, but then this opportunity came up,” she adds.
Before joining Oadby and Wigston, Bingham worked at North West Leicestershire District Council for almost 14 years.
“I was kind of brought up there and worked my way up in council housing before moving into corporate finance in 2017,” she says.
“The incumbent [Kevin Stackhouse] at South Derbyshire has been at the authority for over 20 years. I always used to say when I worked in North West Leicestershire that I’d love to work there one day in Kevin’s role, when he was ready to move on – and now I will be!”
“I spend a lot of time in that district, so I’ve got a real sense of place in South Derbyshire.”
Tracy Bingham is part of Room151’s Women in Finance network supported by CCLA. If you would like to join or are interested, please email sally.shaw@room151.co.uk.
From ‘financially challenged’ to ‘financially stable’
Bingham says that, despite Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and South Derbyshire District Council being in neighbouring counties, their financial situations are very different.
On one hand, Oadby and Wigston has been “financially challenged for a very long time”, with “really low reserves” and the possibility of a section 114 notice on the horizon for 2026/27.
Whereas, on the other hand, South Derbyshire District Council is in a “stable financial position”.
“I’m really looking forward to taking advantage of the stable position of the council to make some tangible and positive changes in that area [South Derbyshire].” Bingham says.
She suggests that the difference between the authorities’ financial positions highlights that the current local government funding system “is just not fair now”.
Bingham details that over recent years “the core spending power in Oadby and Wigston has completely diminished in real terms”, with it also having no business rates growth as well as lower-than-average increases in council tax and New Homes Bonus.
Oadby is “never going to achieve growth above baseline”. In contrast, South Derbyshire has achieved some significant growth and is more financially stable.
However, Bingham highlights that South Derbyshire isn’t without risk as “proposed deferred changes to the funding system will likely see funding reduced” because of its growth above baseline and New Homes Bonus.
I’m really looking forward to taking advantage of the stable position of the council to make some tangible and positive changes in that area.
Limited tools in the ‘toolbox’
Bingham details that Oadby and Wigston was only able to deliver a balanced budget for 2023/24 with the use of reserves and still faces projected funding deficits for the following financial years.
She suggests that Oadby’s financial position also makes tackling current inflationary and cost-of-living pressures “challenging”.
Bingham states that councils like Oadby and Wigston have very limited tools in their box to deal with financial stress, because like many, they’ve done so much already, made the difficult decisions and are now so lean.
Oadby and Wigston is also an unparished authority, which Bingham states doesn’t help its funding situation, as it has to “pick up the bill” for the services that parish councils usually provide, but within limited means due to the 2.99% or £5 district council tax referendum limit envelope.
Bingham details that the only way forward to overcome this disparity in the council funding system is through local government funding reform.
“The disparity is because we are so far deep into this funding regime now that when things are being taken away, like New Homes Bonus, the councils that have had the New Homes Bonus are then being compensated with a funding guarantee.
“This transitionary funding is the right thing – we need to protect councils from dramatic changes in funding. But what about the councils that never got any of that incentivised funding in the first place? We can’t seriously be saying that’s fair,” she says.
Taking regeneration off ‘ice’
Reflecting on her time at Oadby and Wigston, Bingham says that she is happy with her achievements at the council, from stabilising financial governance to moving regeneration projects off “ice”.
A project that she is particularly proud of is the relocation of the council’s offices from a listed building to a smaller, newer and more carbon-reduced property the authority owns. The property has been refurbished mainly using capital receipts.
“For a small council like Oadby and Wigston, it is really quite brave and bold stuff and will save them over £100,000 a year in running costs as well as reducing carbon emissions considerably.
So, I’ll be delivering that project right up until almost my move date, and then I leave and don’t get to work in this fantastic, lovely, shiny new building.
“And I go to South Derbyshire, whose offices are somewhat outdated. So, it was really funny when I was interviewing for them, I did say ‘we need to do something with these offices’.”
Tracy Bingham is part of Room151’s Women in Finance network supported by CCLA. The network is a community specifically for women working as finance officers within local government. If you would like to join or are interested, please email sally.shaw@room151.co.uk.
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