Local residents will play a key role in helping the Council set its budget priorities for 2019/2020 and beyond.

Starting next month (October) community groups, families, young people and businesses will be asked how they would like to see the Council’s £336m revenue budget spent.

Through an online survey, residents will have an opportunity to highlight which services they most value, how often they use a Council facility, and if they would be prepared to pay for a service rather than see it stopped or reduced.

Local meetings with community groups and parent councils are also planned. A second consultation asking the Council’s 16k tenants for its views on housing rents is already underway. 

The results of both consultations will help elected members identify spending priorities ahead of taking a final decision in February, while the adoption of a new budgeting model, which asks services to stick to realistic spending targets, aims to help bridge the Council’s current budget gap of more than £60m projected over the next five years.

The Council Executive will consider a full report on September 25th and you can read it here.