North Somerset budget passes amid warnings council has been 'robbed'
At a full council meeting on February 20, councillors unanimously approved the budget for 2024/25
Last updated 21st Feb 2024
The leader of North Somerset Council has warned the local authority has been “robbed” of government funding as the council agreed its budget for the next year.
At a full council meeting on February 20, councillors unanimously approved the budget for 2024/25 which closed the £16m budget gap the local authority had been facing. Council tax will go up by 4.98%, of which two per cent will be ring fenced for spending on adult social care, under the budget.
Council leader Mike Bell (Weston-super-Mare Central, Liberal Democrat) said: “I am pleased to be able to deliver a balanced budget that continues to support our core services for the community and deliver long term investments.”
But he said the local government grant settlement meant North Somerset Council was “robbed” of £37m in government grants compared to the average English council. The council said it receives £792 per household in government funding each year, compared to an English average of £1,101. Mr Bell added that with inflation and a growth in demand for social services, the council was facing a “perfect storm of financial vulnerability.”
The cost pressures mean North Somerset Council will be taking money from its reserves in order to avoid overshooting its in-year budget for the current 2023/24 financial year. Mr Bell said this had not been factored into the 2024/25 budget and he was confident that the council would go into the next year “on an even keel.”
But Mr Bell said: “We must not hide from the difficult decisions that are in these proposals. We are increasing council tax and the adult social care precept. We all know that this will hit the pockets of local people at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet.
“We will be increasing our fees and charges to generate income or cover costs of providing services. We are going to be looking at ways to achieve further savings in services, including difficult areas like home-to-school transport and looked after children and through parking charges.
“None of these are things we would choose to do but are instead forced upon us by the circumstances which we face.”
Leader of the opposition Conservative group on the council, Nigel Ashton (Gordano Valley, Conservative) said they would support the partnership administration’s budget. He said: “I have total sympathy with your position. I had ten years of cuts; I know how frustrating and disappointing it is.”
He said: “I don’t think local government, certainly in North Somerset, has ever had the money it needs to do what it has to do, let alone what it would like to do or what the public deserve, and I think it is only going to get worse.”
The council’s budget gap for the subsequent financial year (2025/26) already stands at £9m. Councillors will need to identify more cuts or ways of generating income by next February to balance this gap.