Cheshire East Council launches its budget consultation – protecting essential services for those most in need

10 January 2024

Cheshire East Council has launched its budget consultation for the 2024/25 financial year. 

The consultation survey is for residents and other stakeholders to provide feedback on a range of budget proposals which will be considered by councillors as part of the decision-making process to set a balanced budget for the council in 2024/25. 

Local council finances have been under increasing pressure for a number of years. There are various pressures on Cheshire East Council’s finances, including the impacts of high inflation and high interest rates on loan payments seen throughout the year, the high level of demand for council services and increasing costs and complexity of needs for those children and older people who most need the council’s help. 

There is also financial uncertainty following the Government’s announcement, in October, of the cancellation of HS2 north of Birmingham and the potential impacts on Crewe, Cheshire East and the wider region.  This is on top of reduction of Government funding for day-to-day services - the funding for Cheshire East Council has been cut by 63% in real terms since 2010. 

Together these factors bring significant financial pressures for the current year and for planning a balanced, affordable budget for the year ahead, with adequate reserves to protect against risk. 

Proposals include reducing some subsidies and ensuring that full costs are recovered for services that are charged for directly, and reducing some discretionary spending and services, such as schools catering, and post-16 travel support. In addition, there are proposals to reduce the cost of running the organisation, including leaving senior leadership posts vacant, service restructures, reducing spending on agency workers and reducing office opening hours. The consultation questionnaire also asks questions about reducing the number of household waste recycling centres, changing the way libraries are used and funded, and changes to grounds maintenance and street cleansing. 

Councillor Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council said: “No one comes into public service to significantly cut the services that local residents rely on, but we must be realistic and make responsible decisions about prioritising our spend with limited resources. 

“We must put supporting the people who need our help the most, ahead of many other things we would like to do - and that many people want us to do - including further investment in road maintenance, local recycling centres, libraries and leisure services. 

“Cheshire East Council is far from alone in this.  Councils across the country are making severe cuts to services and making clear to government that the current financial position is not sustainable.” 

Councillor Craig Browne, deputy leader of the council added, “It is so important for everyone to have their say. If you have never commented in a council consultation before, now is the time to do so. A number of these proposals will affect everyone – either directly or indirectly - and some of these changes are significant. We need to know how they might affect you and the people you care about. 

“We, your local councillors, are going to have to make difficult decisions to enable us to balance our budget. However, these budget pressures do force us to look at doing things differently and identify opportunities for improvement and efficiencies. 

“It is deeply concerning how challenging the year ahead will be for all local authorities, including Cheshire East.”

Following publication of the draft financial strategy, the council’s service committees will consider the budget proposals at public meetings in January and February.

The decision to approve and adopt the budget will be taken at a full council meeting on 27 February. 

Members of the public can attend service committee meetings and full council. Agendas, minutes and details of up-coming meetings can be found by visiting www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/council 

The consultation is open until 23:59 on 28 January 2024. After this date, members of the public can still contact their local ward members about the proposals ahead of the full council decision on 27 February 2024. 

The online survey can be found at https://surveys.cheshireeast.gov.uk/s/Budget_Consultation_2024_2025/

Paper copies will also be available at local libraries. 

For any queries about this engagement, for example if you would like to receive this questionnaire in an alternative format, or submit your response in a different way, please email RandC@cheshireeast.gov.uk. If you do not have email access please call the council’s customer services team on 0300 123 55 00.