During December 2023 and January 2024, we consulted on our budget plans for 2024/5. This included plans for spending, efficiencies, and Council Tax.
The Council is under huge financial pressure due to substantial increases in costs, particularly in Children’s Services and Adult Social Care where it estimates an additional £15 million is needed to maintain these services. Meanwhile, inflation has been running at nearly 10 per cent for a whole year, adding another £19 million of additional pressure.
The budget plans set out a range of proposals to reduce costs, and residents were given a choice of reducing bus subsidies and charging for garden waste.
Over 2,000 people took part, and their feedback shaped the budget.
Residents were supportive of the proposals to improve efficiency, change some services, and use some council reserves to bridge the funding gap. There were mixed views about increasing Council Tax.
Residents were also asked about some specific options: reducing bus subsidies, charging for garden waste, using more financial reserves, or something else to meet the funding gap. Whilst there was strong support for using more reserves, this is an unsustainable approach in the long term, so some savings do need to be made now. Of the proposals for additional savings, the strongest support from the public was for charging for garden waste.
Charging for garden waste collection will provide the council with an estimated extra £2 million a year, which will help to offset rising costs in caring for the vulnerable.
The council considered residents’ views and agreed on a budget where most of the funding gap is plugged by a raft of efficiencies that reduce running costs and uses some of the Council’s reserves.
The budget retains bus subsidies, which more residents want to see protected, but includes charging for collecting garden waste, which received stronger support from residents.
You can read more about the budget and the consultation results on our budget webpages.