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Councillors to consider Pendle’s budget proposals at Executive meeting
Published: Tuesday, 12th December 2017
Pendle’s Executive councillors will be updated on the Council’s current financial position on Thursday (December 14).
They will be reminded of the seriousness of the Council’s forecast financial position and that difficult decisions have got to be made.
It’s currently estimated that the Council’s funding will fall from £6.1m in 2017/18 to £4.3m in 2020/21 - a reduction of £1.8m.
That means spending reductions of £3.3m need to be made over the next three years.
In 2018/19 the Council needs to make ongoing savings of at least £714,000 in addition to the savings of £379,000 already made in next year’s budget.
And further savings of around £2.6m have to be made by 2020/21.
At the Executive meeting councillors will receive more detail about the financial forecasts and options from the Council’s Management Team.
In addition to the proposed cuts to save £400,000 on refuse and recycling collections and street cleaning, Management Team’s proposed savings include:
- charging for bulky household waste
- not replacing staff who leave the Council.
Councillor Mohammed Iqbal, Leader of Pendle Council, said: “Our priority is to protect investment in the services which matter most to our residents and businesses.
“At our Executive meeting we’ll have an initial look at the options being put forward by Management Team.
“I stress they are just Management Team’s proposals at this stage and no decisions have been taken.
“The budget will be set by councillors so we’re not obliged to accept any of the proposals.”
Councillor Tony Greaves, Deputy Leader of Pendle Council, oversees the Council’s finances.
He added: “The government is again slashing our grants and councils, like ours in the North of England, are among the worst hit.
“We’re looking at different ways to cut our spending and raise our income, but we’re now very close to being forced to stop doing some quite important things.”
The full budget report is available from Agendas, reports and minutes on www.pendle.gov.uk
Details on budgets and reductions are shown on Pendle Council's website - www.pendle.gov.uk/financialchallenges
The Council’s budget and Council Tax will be agreed at the Council meeting in February 2018.
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