Nottingham Labour Party is again planning a budget to provide more local services to tackle the issues the people of Nottingham care about.
This year, we will propose that the City Council -
- introduces neighbourhood policing, and more wardens;
- does more to tackle climate change by expanding recycling;
- provides more & better quality support for older people.
There will also be an above inflation increase on education spending – 6.9%.
The following expands upon the key proposals and the current process and invites the public to comment.
The proposals for new spending & savings by the City Council are set to be agreed by the February Executive Board, for the purposes of consultation, and are available in the following report -
Previous announcements on the medium term financial plan shows the Council has been planning on a 3% Council tax increase to meet our ambitions to provide better services for the people of Nottingham. (1% raises £875k.) Essentially, of the 3% increase, -
· Almost 1% goes on Respect for Nottingham, the introduction of neighbourhood wardens and some extra measures to tackle environmental crime; (£813k);
· 1% goes on Respect for the Climate - expanding the collection of separated waste for recycling from an extra 30,000 homes, along with some improvement in brings sites; (£860k);
· Almost 1% goes on extra help for older people, be it better help or longer independent living at homes or improvements to services at homes for the elderly. (Net £800k – a fairer price for care providers - £800k; more special help, including for Asian and Afro Caribbean elders - £200k; improvements to supporting living longer at home - £80k; and support for people with individual budgets - £70k);
There are a whole range of other measures shown, including spending and savings, which show a net increase in spending of over £4 million in real terms.
The direct grant to schools from the Labour Gov’t to support the drive on attainment – and Nottingham achieved the most improved exam results last year for any education authority in the country -
• 6.9% increase
We are striving for value for money - the net increase includes £3 million of savings.
In particular, focussing spending on strategic priorities for the people of Nottingham - tackling crime & ASB, a better environment, better attainment at schools and more jobs for local people. So the budget process drives savings which then tend to be in non-priority areas.
I'll be running a special exercise this year whereby I ask constituents by e-mail for comments on the proposals.
The Council will be seeking the views of representatives of the voluntary & community sectors and of business; and asking focus groups for considered views. Everyone is welcome to send in comments.
Please send comments to michael.edwards@nottinghamcity.gov.uk; please add your postal address. Typical points to consider are –
- Are there any proposals you particularly agree with?
- Are there any proposals for spending or saving that you don’t agree with?
- Are there any points concerning poor service or wasteful service that should be addressed to offer better value for money?
The findings are published as part of the budget process, which takes a further step in February when the full budget is published for scrutiny at the February Executive Board. The budget is actually agreed in March.
The planned tax increase is below the Retail Price Index measure of inflation.
The planned tax increase is also lower this year because grant support from Gov’t has been better, after years of lobbying to say that cities in the Midlands and the North deserved a better deal.
We are now pressing for the agreed increases to provide more support for adult services in the Midlands and the North to be implemented more quickly.
It is worth noting that other councils (e.g. Liverpool) have had particular problems this year, something Nottingham has found easier to avoid by being prudent and challenging about making savings.
For a 3% increase, the weekly increases are -
per weekBand£A0.45B0.53C0.60D0.68E0.83F0.98G1.13H1.36Average0.55
[Last updated 2007-01-31; table formatting to be re-done]
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