North Tyneside Council’s Cabinet has approved its initial budget proposals.
The budget supports and enables the Council to fulfil the final year of its priorities for the Borough, as outlined in the Our North Tyneside Plan 21-25.
The proposals ensure North Tyneside continues to be a great place to live, work, visit and have a family. Residents will be supported to live healthy, secure, and fulfilling lives, in a Borough committed to investing for the future and tackling inequalities.
The proposals protect the most vulnerable residents and support investment across North Tyneside. They include a transformation programme which will deliver significant savings, efficiencies and investment over the medium term financial plan.
The proposals detail how the Council will make the most of external funding to continue regeneration in North Shields, Wallsend and the North West of the Borough.
The North West is a large and diverse part of North Tyneside and includes villages and communities such as Killingworth, Palmersville and Backworth. The Ambition for the North West Cabinet report was approved last night with plans to improve the waggonways and green spaces, housing and employment offer in the area.
The budget proposals show how the Council will continue to invest in leisure centres, parks and libraries, developing them at the heart of communities.
The Council is maintaining its support for people in the Borough who need it most, with its own Council Tax Support programme continuing, cutting bills for thousands of low-income households.
Council tenants facing financial challenges will be supported through tenancy sustainment measures.
The Working Well hubs will continue to give residents skills and confidence to get into work or training.
An additional £2m will be invested in each of the next five years to fix roads and pavements in poor condition.
Nearly £16m will be spent on new build affordable housing projects over five years.
The Council’s ‘Neat Streets’ initiative which cleaned up 12,000 properties last year will continue improving the Borough’s estates and tackle environmental crime such as fly tipping.
The proposals support the Council’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint, funding more than 10,000 sustainability measures for tenants in the next five years (for example, replacing boilers, installing solar PV panels etc).
However, like many local authorities, the Council is experiencing unprecedented demands and costs, especially on social care services. This is in addition to the general impact of rising costs and inflation. As a result, the Council is forecasting an extra £31m pressure next year on our funds.
The Council has successfully managed some of this pressure through its transformation programme, saving £10m this year and a further £28m over the medium-term financial plan (MTFP 25-29), but is still forecasting:
£9.5m in-year shortfall (24/25)
£3.9m shortfall next year (25/26)*
A cumulative MTFP shortfall (25-29) of £21.5m
*A proposed Council Tax increase of 2.99% and Adult Social Care Precept increase of 2% have been included for 25/26, in line with Government expectation.
North Tyneside Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for Finance and Resources, Anthony McMullen said: “We have had to make some tough decisions with this budget, due to 14 years of under-funding from central Government.
“Like many local authorities across the country, the demands and costs on our social services are unprecedented.
“Some social care needs are so complex or demand is so high that we are unable to meet it all in-house, and must therefore use an external provider, whose costs can be double our own.
“However we are investing in our own provision to manage this pressure, as part of our transformation programme, and these costs are beginning to come down.
“Despite our pressures, we have a budget which means we can still deliver what our residents and businesses expect us to, including supporting those most in need”.
Director of Resources, Jon Ritchie, said:
“North Tyneside Council is committed to being good value for money and using resources carefully.
“Our transformation programme is making savings in fourteen areas, which include making more of our buildings and assets, increasing our social care offer and managing our contracts and workforce differently”.
Residents can have their say on the proposals here Council Budget Proposals | Our North Tyneside Voice
NOTES
The budget proposals for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) currently assume a 2.7% increase in rents (based on current Government guidance).
The exact amount of funding the Council will receive will not be known until the Local Government Finance Settlement is announced.
