Councillor Ethan Radford, Deputy Leader of Nottingham City Council, and Executive Member for Finance and Resources said:
Since April 2024 the political leadership of Nottingham City Council has set a clear intention – to get the Council’s house in order.
We have had to do that because, over the last decade, Nottingham City Council has suffered the effects of a national reduction in local government funding, at a scale never before seen, leaving Nottingham and countless other deprived cities losing out to more affluent areas.
With Nottingham City Council losing hundreds of millions of pounds over a sustained period of years, alongside an unprecedented rise in demand for our services, the effects of previous Government cuts haven’t just been felt by the Council – it is the people of Nottingham who have ultimately been left struggling – all while Council budgets are stretched even further. Expected to do more, with less.
Following the 2024 general election, things have changed for councils like Nottingham. The election of the new Labour Government has seen a significant increase in funding for councils as part of their Fairer Funding formula for local government, which last year saw Nottingham, the 11th most deprived council in the country, receiving the 11th highest grant from the Government to the tune of an additional £35m.
This has been one of the most significant factors in our efforts to get Nottingham City Council’s house in order, enabling us to address internal factors at the Council, overseen by political leadership, such as a renewed corporate leadership team, more accurate financial forecasting, improved governance and most importantly, providing better value for money for council taxpayers.
These external and internal factors are why we are beginning to demonstrate an improvement in the Council’s financial position.
This does not overlook the fact we still have a structural budget deficit – meaning the Council still needs to achieve financial sustainability and run services without having to rely on one-off quick fixes, like using reserves, which is not what reserves are for. The Council continues to spend more on some services than other councils who deliver better outcomes at a lower cost.
Every pound of council taxpayers’ money must be spent wisely and deliver best value across all Nottingham City Council services. Hard working residents of this city deserve no less.
As the political leadership of the Council, we put forward a bold vision – to become a renewed council, that delivers for local people and leads Nottingham forward. But that vision is nothing without action.
By getting our house in order we are becoming a renewed council. We can see this by getting overspends under control. Using only £7m of the £40m of Exceptional Financial Support that was initially predicted we would need. Reducing our debt by almost £300m since 2021, a reduction of nearly one third overall. All the while demonstrating that we are not bankrupt, we have never been bankrupt, and we are nowhere near being bankrupt.
That is why we are now able to look further, to demonstrate how we intend on delivering for local people and what that looks like. Not words – but action.
That is why between now and April next year, we are committing additional in-year spend of around £2m to provide better value for money in some of our core, universal services.
These include, among other things:
- Over £500k on fly-tip collection and litter
- £250k on improving our highways
- Just under £200k on community safety with additional Neighbourhood Safety Officers
- Over £750k of investment in our local parks (including £650k of UKSPF)
- Over £500k on weed management, tree maintenance and hedge cutting
And as we currently work on the Council’s budget for next year in 2026/2027, we intend on demonstrating further action to deliver better value for money, renewing pride in place, delivering safe and clean neighbourhoods and empowering people to lead healthy lives.
Nottingham City Council will continue to move at pace to get our house in order, to become a renewed council that delivers for local people and leads Nottingham forward.