Council budget plans open for consultation
Telford & Wrekin Council budget proposals for 2024/25 have been approved by cabinet members on Thursday 4 January to move forward to a four-week public consultation, beginning on 5 January 2024.
The papers include a number of measures to deliver a balanced budget, as required by the law, and offer opportunity for income growth to support key council services which benefit residents and businesses.
The budget proposals come in the wake of December’s government settlement – funding for councils – which was much lower than anticipated.
The proposed budget recommends investment to expand the council’s income-generating rental and housing development offers, Nuplace and Telford & Wrekin Homes, providing further high-quality homes for local people to rent from a responsible and responsive landlord. Each pound of surplus will be spent on front-line services.
It also proposes more than £65m to support further Growth Fund initiatives to bring new employment opportunities to the borough. The council is one of the biggest commercial landlords in Telford and Wrekin, with its Growth Fund not only supporting 1,445 jobs in the borough but also generating a surplus in excess of £8.7m, each pound of which is invested in front line services. £40m will also be spent to improve and expand schools.
The budget papers recommend increasing council tax by 4.99%, which would equate to an extra £1.09 per week for a Band B property – the average home in Telford and Wrekin.
The increase will raise £4m and every pound will be invested into Adult and Children’s social care, providing support to the most vulnerable in Telford and Wrekin.
Even after this increase, Telford & Wrekin Council is expected still to have one of the lowest levels of general council tax in both the Midlands and amongst Unitary Authorities in England. This will be the first rise in two years, after the local authority froze council tax for 2022 and 2023.
Despite income generation and a council tax rise, the scale of the cuts in government funding and the demands on services mean the council will need to make £16.1m in cuts over the next 12 months on top of the £156.9m of cuts made since 2010.
Councillor Nathan England (Labour), Cabinet Member for Finance, Customer Services and Governance, said:
“Following our freeze of the general level of council tax over the last two years, we anticipate that the proposed increase for 2024 will still see households in Telford and Wrekin paying among the lowest council tax rate in the Midlands.
“Every extra pound we raise will go into supporting the most vulnerable adults and children in our borough – a service that accounts for two thirds of our annual revenue budget (more than £7 in every £10 the council spends) and one which has seen huge increase in demand and costs over the last few years.
“Despite our lobbying, government funding has been slashed over the same period, and local authorities like us have been left to care on our own.”
Councillor Shaun Davies (Labour), Leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, said:
“Balancing the books is proving increasingly difficult for us, and for all councils across the country, and this year we have had to make some difficult decisions.
“Starting from a strong position of robust financial management, we will continue our strategy of prudent borrowing and smart, innovative investing to generate income that funds vital local services – services that the government’s funding package falls well short of covering.”
A four-week public consultation on Telford & Wrekin Council’s budget proposals is running from 5 January to 4 February 2024. To view the proposals and share feedback, visit www.telford.gov.uk/budget
