Hundreds of people tell Wiltshire Council where budget should go
We had a chance to help shape their spending priorities
Over 1,800 people in Wiltshire have told the Council what they think the Budget should be spent on during the next financial year.
Residents have taken part in an online survey, and face to face sessions at libraries in Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham.
From the internet study, people said the priorities should be on:
• Maintenance of highway and footpaths – 17%
• Supporting and safeguarding children 13%
• Adults – supporting the vulnerable – 12%
• Investment in housing, roads and school buildings – 11%
Those who went to the public sessions were given tokens to put in boxes, to reflect their spending choices.
Unsurprisingly, leisure centres and libraries came top of that survey (15%), along with supporting and safeguarding children (15%), closely followed by investment in housing, roads and school buildings (13%) and supporting vulnerable adults (12%).
Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Finance at Wiltshire Council said:
“Local authorities are legally obliged to set a balanced budget. Our prudent and preventative approach over the last few years has put Wiltshire Council in a strong position to deliver high quality services for Wiltshire's residents, businesses, and communities, in line with our Business Plan priorities.
"However, we are not immune to the challenging times and local authority budgets are under greater scrutiny and pressure than ever before due to increasing demand for services, particularly for adults' services, children's social care and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Demand has been further impacted by the ongoing pressures caused by continued cost-of-living challenges, higher levels of inflation and continued higher and unpredictable energy prices.
“We wanted to hear people's views on how they think we should prioritise spending in 2025/26, so that this could inform how we invest in key services and programmes to ensure we continue to deliver services that meet the need of our residents, businesses and communities. We thank people for getting involved in our recent interactive budget drop-in sessions or for completing our survey online. It was really useful to get everyone's feedback and in the case of the in-person events have some good discussions with residents.”
The council receives nearly 84% of its core funding from local taxes, business rates and council tax.
In 2024/25 the council's budget is around £490m, more than half of which (£179.4 million) is spent on adult and children's social care services.
Services for families and children accounted for £70.8m, with £49.6m on the environment, £43m on highways and transport and £38.9m on education.
The budget for 2025/26 will be discussed at a Full Council meeting on 25th February.