Budget Engagement 2018-2019

The Council invited residents to have their say on the council’s draft budget proposals for 2018-2019. In order to meet the challenge of having less resources and greater demand for services the council needs to do things very differently. Via this engagement, the council shared their approach to address these challenges. Residents were given the opportunity to share their views on the draft budget proposals.

The engagement film and questionnaire were available on the council’s website for people to watch and give feedback. The questionnaire and council reports were also available at our Community Conversation Corners at the 4 main Customer First Centres: Whitley Bay, North Shields, Wallsend and Killingworth White Swan Centre. In addition the Resident Panel members were given an opportunity to have a say via a series of 3 face to face, early evening sessions at the Council Offices, Cobalt Business Park. These 3 different sessions took place between 14 December 2017 and 30 January 2018. In addition residents were able to submit their views by email, telephone and letter to the Council’s Engagement Team. The Council Budget was approved at a meeting of full Council on 15 February 2018. The Council minutes following the budget engagement exercise are available at the link below. Each year the Authority evaluates its budget engagement process to consider improvements that can be achieved in future years. This will include consideration of the number of people involved and the feedback received.