West Suffolk Council facing £2.5m budget gap next year
It's down to the cost of living crisis and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
A budget deficit for a Suffolk council is expected to be £2.5 million next year.
West Suffolk Council puts the £1.37 million increase in the projected budget gap down to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and Covid-19.
An update on the financial challenges faced by the council, including the reasons behind the newly forecasted budget gap, was heard at a meeting of the council’s performance and audit scrutiny committee yesterday.
Cllr Sarah Broughton, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for resources and property, said: “The pressures we are facing are national issues, far beyond our control and experienced by all public services and councils.
“These include the financial impacts of the war in Ukraine, inflation, the cost-of-living challenge and a national downturn in income due to changed spending habits.
“But the robust financial decisions we have made on our solar investments and our investments more generally have brought millions of pounds of financial, environmental, economic and community benefits.
“We have been lobbying government, with other authorities, to make sure councils have certainty over public spending so we can set balanced budgets.”
The council’s Toggam solar farm in Lakenheath is expected to provide £1.75 million for the council between 2023 and 2025.
The projections in the medium-term budget are not definitive and were made before the government’s announcement on funding for public services yesterday.