Concern over £4.6million black hole in Nottinghamshire County Council finances

Nottinghamshire County Council's headquarters.

The authority says the unfunded budget gap was caused by the coronavirus pandemic after the government support it has received so far was taken into account.

Opposition councillors have called the figures ‘extremely worrying’, but the council says plans are in place to make the cuts needed.

Like all councils, Nottinghamshire has faced Covid-related budget pressure from a wide range of sources, including increased costs for items such as PPE, and decreased income.

The government has already provided some support to councils, but in Nottinghamshire this has fallen far short of the costs incurred.

It is not yet known exactly how the Conservative-controlled council will fill the budget gap.

A report shows the council anticipates the costs so far this financial year to be £46.7 million.

To date it has received £42.1 million from the government.

Ashfield Independent councillor Tom Hollis, who represents Sutton West, said: “Every kind of financial statement coming out of the council now is going to be worrying, unless we take some kind of decisive steps, which isn’t just saying ‘we want unitary (super council) why can’t we have unitary?’”

“What is plan B? I don’t believe we have one but I sincerely hope we have.

“I may not agree with the choices you (the Conservatives) make, but I really hope you’ve got some choices or things up your sleeve that aren’t going to make this council’s finances crumble.

“But looking at this it’s extremely worrying.”

Senior councillor Richard Jackson said plans for savings were being worked on, and would be released in the coming months.

He said: “We do obviously have plans in place, you will see those as soon as it’s possible to bring those forward, and we’ll need to consult on them.

“Like every authority in the country and almost every business in the country the coronavirus has blown the balanced budget off course, but a lot of work is going on, and it’s thanks to the work that has been done over many years to put our finances on a sound footing that meant we were starting from the best possible position before this crisis.”