City residents have the chance to have their say on proposals to make £27m of savings following more Government cuts to the council’s budget.
Feedback on the City Council’s 2017/18 budget proposals can be given through an online survey at https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/yourcityyourservices or downloading a copy of the survey from the page and emailing it to engage@nottinghamcity.gov.uk or posting it to FREEPOST RSKR-JYGH-YYAK, Communications and Marketing (Budget 2017), Nottingham City Council, Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. Feedback can also be given via the @MyNottingham Twitter account using #shrink.
There is also a series of consultation events this month taking place at:
- St Ann’s Valley Centre on Wednesday 18 January 3pm-5pm
- Clifton Cornerstone on Tuesday 24 January 6.30pm-8.30pm
- Mary Potter Centre, Hyson Green, on Wednesday 25 January 2pm-6pm
- BANCA, Sneinton, on Tuesday 31 January 6.30pm-8pm.
Nottingham City Council is planning its next budget against a backdrop of £82m of cuts to its Government Revenue Support Grant (RSG) over the last four years and a national shift towards local taxpayers footing the bill for services. The cuts in RSG will continue over the next two years rising to over £100m by 2019/20. The council has made over £200m in savings over the last six years and needs to make a further £27m for 2017/18 and another £19m up to 2020.
Some of the proposals to balance the 2017/18 budget are:
- Introducing a fare on Centrelink and Medilink bus services
- Reviewing on-street parking charges
- Increasing commercial sales and contracts
- Redesigning the running of Children’s Centres
- Reviewing Leisure Centre and Bereavement Services fees and charges
- Reducing cultural grants.
Once again, the council is looking to protect key services such as children’s centres, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, keeping Nottingham as the UK’s cleanest city and protecting children and supporting vulnerable elderly people.
The city is considering the Government’s proposal to allow councils to raise Council Tax by 3%, on top of the 1.99% already accounted for, to help address the funding crisis in adult social care, as well as reducing the workforce by 63 posts and bringing in extra income through running more services on a commercial basis, more efficiently and in a different way.
Nottingham City Council’s Deputy Leader, Councillor Graham Chapman, said: “We are putting forward these proposals for savings and asking people for their views – we will take into account what people say and every year we have changed things where something is viewed as a cut too far.
“However, some difficult choices will be unavoidable as we look for £27m of savings on top of the £200m already saved since 2010/11 in response to Government cuts. This Government is placing the burden on the residents and businesses of Nottingham to pick up the bill for local services, while taking away more funds from Nottingham than many richer parts of the country.”
People can comment on the draft budget proposals from now until just before the budget is approved at the full council meeting on Monday 6 March 2017.
A report to the council’s Executive Board on Tuesday December 20th set out the progress on the 2017/18 budget so far. Click here to view the Executive Board Budget Consultation 2017/18 report