Buckinghamshire Council proposes balanced budget plan

Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet has today agreed its updated Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) setting out budget proposals for the coming financial year. The council has once again put forward a balanced budget, as it is legally required to do, but warns that it is doing so under increasingly difficult national funding conditions, including the recent ‘Fair Funding Review’, which diverts vital resources away from Buckinghamshire.

Central government’s ‘Fair Funding Review’ has resulted in Buckinghamshire losing out by £44.4 million, placing even further strain on the local council’s finances at a time when demand for statutory services continues to grow. Also, government formulas explicitly include in their calculations an increase of 4.99% per year in Council Tax. Even with this rise in local tax, the overall ‘core spending power’ - the total funding available to Buckinghamshire Council - rises by only 8.1% in the coming three-year period, barely above expected inflation and well below the national average increase of 15.1%. Without the ‘baked in’ 4.99% Council Tax rise, Buckinghamshire would face a further £30m budget gap.

Ultimately, due to the government’s approach, less money is available to Buckinghamshire and money as funds are instead being sent to other areas of the country.

Additionally central government has withdrawn funding from key local services and infrastructure, further shifting costs and responsibility onto local taxation. In recent weeks this has included the cancellation of a new Special Educational Needs (SEN) school which would have provided 152 new SEN places, leaving Buckinghamshire Council to fill the gaps.

Despite these changes the MTFP outlines in more detail the significant investment in services and priorities that residents outlined during the budget consultation last year.

These include:

• £120 million for strategic highways maintenance and a further £98 million invested in other transport priorities including bridge maintenance, footways, drainage, streetlighting and bus infrastructure improvements, meaning a total investment of nearly £220 million
• £49.7 million on Special Educational Needs provision and a further £107.7 million on Primary and Secondary schools, and school improvement projects
• £108.2 million on strategic infrastructure in Aylesbury via the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF)
• £46.8 million investment in waste, including a new household recycling centre and vehicle replacement
• £28.1 million to support housing and homelessness including affordable housing to reduce temporary accommodation costs, and disabled facilities grants
• £11.6 million on climate change and flood management

Buckinghamshire Council Leader Steven Broadbent said:

“This is an extremely challenging national context in which we have put forward our budget proposals. That said, I am proud that we are still able to focus investment into the priority areas our residents want their local tax to be spent on – roads, community facilities and services to help people who need extra support.

"Overall, however, this is simply an unfair funding system for Buckinghamshire residents.

“Not only are we losing out to the tune of £44.4 million as a result of the so‑called ‘Fair Funding Review’ – which is anything but fair – but our residents are also being let down by central government cutting other budgets and investments too.

"More and more is falling to the council and ultimately to local taxpayers to shoulder the burden. That said, because of our strong financial record, the millions of pounds worth of savings we have made and our finances being in a pressured but stable position, we can still prioritise what matters most to Buckinghamshire residents.

"We are continuing to protect essential services, invest in our communities and maintain our focus on efficiency, value for money and delivering for local people. I urge people to examine in full the details of the budget plans we are putting forward.”