Bulwell residents facing council tax hike as Nottingham Council looks to find £29m in savings

Residents in all Nottingham Council areas are being invited to have their say on savings proposals agreed by councillors as the authority sets its budget for 2023-24.

At an executive board meeting, councillors endorsed £29 million of savings proposals, more than £10m of which require public consultation.

Like all councils, businesses and households, the council’s finances have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis created by soaring inflation, fuel and energy costs.

A challenging employment market, increased demand for services and post-pandemic issues also add to financial pressures.

Proposals agreed by the board include raising council tax by the full 4.99 per cent permitted under Government proposals – made up of 2.99 per cent council tax and a further 2 per cent specifically towards adult social care costs.

About 80 per cent of Nottingham’s homes are in the two lowest council tax bands – almost twice the national average – meaning this increase would equate to between £1.25 and £1.46 more per week for the majority of city residents.

Other proposals, involving a workforce reduction of 110 full-time-equivalent posts, include:

Changes to adult social care, including more independent living support instead of residential or nursing care; Reviewing fees and charges for parking, cremation and burials, leisure centres and cafes; Reviewing grants to community groups, community centres and cultural organisations; Stopping collection of household bins put out on the wrong day; Increasing tariffs for EnviroEnergy customers.

Someproposals are part of, or complement the transformation programme under way to change the way the council operates.

The council’s overall budget gap is £32.2m, leaving a further £3.2m of savings to be found by February.

Coun Adele Williams, council portfolio holder for finance, said: “Since 2010 we have had to make more than £300m of savings to our budgets.

“With vastly diminished Government grants, we felt we had no option but to propose the 5 per cent council tax increase allowed by Government, even though this won’t raise enough to properly meet local needs and will sadly place a further burden on local people who we know are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”