Brighton budget proposal unveiled: £24 million savings needed in 2014

Brighton’s Green-led city council announced budget spending proposals for 2014-2015 yesterday.

This comes at a time when the minority administration aims to save £24 million over the next year, due to further financial austerity imposed by central government.

It plans to confront the enormous task of reducing the adult social care budget by £6m and and cutting £2m from the children’s services budget.

Council Leader, Jason Kitcat, said: “Councils across the country face steep cuts in government funding, plus increasing demand for services as our demographics change.”

Green councillors also announced a 2% increase in council tax, however Cllr Kitcat made aware that this rise is still below the rate of inflation.

He said: “We are asking that residents contribute a small amount to help offset just a fraction of the government cuts.”

Another council initiative proposed was a freeze on parking charges in council-run car parks across the city for another year.

This coincides with the today’s announcement that motorists using the Pay and Phone system may have been overcharged for parking.

It highlights the potential volatility in the parking sector and emphasises disparities in parking rates.

The city council also aims to keep all libraries and children’s centres open, despite having less money to spend on essential services for the city.

The council has produced a video outlining the sources of the budget and what the money will be spent on.

40% of the budget comes from government grants that can be spent only on schools and housing benefit.

Another 18% comes from other government grants, 16% is received from fees and charges, such as parking permits, and 13% is from council tax.

Roughly £33m is spent on transport, street lighting and maintaining the roads, including free bus travel for older and disabled people.

The largest sum of money, £112m, is spent on adult social care, to provide home-care services and funding for older people who need residential or nursing assistance.

The council has saved £60m over the last three years, it says due to working more efficiently to minimise the impact on the services the public see.

However, the administration aims to go even further with its austerity agenda; planning to save about £100m over the next four years.

The council says that it has published the draft budget two months before it is decided by councillors in order to maximise citizen involvement.

Cllr Kitcat says it is proposing a budget that protects essential services for residents, visitors and businesses.

He added: “It’s crucial that we don’t just look to next year, but long term, to secure a sustainable future for the city.”

This is the start of what will be two months of scrutiny from Brighton & Hove residents before the full council agrees to the budget and council tax on 27 February 2014.

Next week (5 December), the Policy and Resources Committee will meet to consider the budget update, budget strategies and savings proposals.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement will also be announced by the Chancellor on the same day.

The announcement will give the funding allocations for councils from national government for the 2014/15 financial year.

This will form part of the Chancellor’s annual Autumn Statement to Parliament.

Ceirney Eddie