Published on Friday 27 January 2023
BCP Council is announcing proposals for a balanced budget for 2023/24 that builds on the success of the last year, addresses the challenges of today and plans a secure future for tomorrow.
Despite the unprecedented national financial pressures everybody is facing, BCP Council is proposing a balanced budget that invests where it matters most – caring, protecting the most vulnerable in our society and improving our place – while building a sustainable financial foundation for the future.
And our ambitions remain to create a modern, efficient council that supports vibrant communities with outstanding quality of life where everyone plays an active role.
Building on success
Over the last year we’ve used one-off investment into key areas to make our communities cleaner, greener and safer. This has had a really positive impact – from working with partners to reduce anti-social behaviour by 11.3% between April and December 2022, to tackling fly-tipping and investing £1.69M in improving the summer experience on the seafront.
Our commercial seafront activities are forecast to generate over £6M in profit to support our budget and council services this year – more than ever before – showing the real value to council tax payers of improving our place.
And we’ve already secured £18.2M Levelling Up funding to invest to further improve our seafront and coastal communities.
We’ve supported over 100 community groups and projects, and our ASPIRE project has helped residents make healthier lifestyle choices and find employment.
Our council house-building programme has gone from a standing start to identify a pipeline of 1,400 potential new council homes, which will contribute towards a BCP-wide target of 15,000 we and our partners have committed to.
Increased costs
This year inflation has risen at its fastest rate in 40 years, peaking at over 10%.
This means we’re spending more - more to light up our streets, fuel our rubbish and recycling vehicles, and provide care to adults and children across our communities. Overall, we predict it will cost £54M per year more to run the council over 22/23 and 22/24, just because of these inflationary pressures.
Working efficiently
The Council has already delivered £47.9 million in annual savings and efficiencies bringing three councils into one new authority and we’ve realised £7.1 million savings as we transform into the most modern and efficient council.
We know there are more efficiencies to be made from making these changes and we aim to save council tax payers more money by becoming a modern and efficient council.
This past year, reacting directly to the challenges facing us, we’ve already undertaken significant action to work more efficiently and increase income. This means we’re predicting a £10.1M surplus at the end of this financial year which we will use to support our 23/24 ambitions.
Cabinet and council officers have been proactive in identifying areas where we can bring forward more plans to harmonise and improve services across the three towns, deliver services differently or work together with our local communities of residents, businesses, partners and those in the charity and voluntary sector.
And there are some areas where we can just make savings. From 1 April 2023, this combined activity will deliver £32.9m in savings and efficiencies with plans for a further £2.2m in annualised savings from 1 July 2023.
Investing in the future
Our proposed budget prioritises investing in services to the most vulnerable in our community.
We plan to invest an extra £14.6M in our Children’s Services as we continue to deliver on our commitment to improvement, and an extra £25.5M to Adult Services.
And we’re looking to invest a further £1.9M into our unearmarked reserves; building sustainable foundations for the future and bringing reserves to 5% of Net revenue expenditure – a barometer for best practice.
Council Tax
Our current proposal provides financial security and supports core service delivery based on a 4.99% total council tax rise (made up of 2.99% for the basic Council Tax and 2% for the social care precept).
This rise is half the level of inflation and our overall council tax is lower than many other local authorities of a similar size, partly down to successive years of Council Tax freezes or limited rises.
However, the Leader and Cabinet have signalled that they believe there is still room to go further, and will be working on proposals between now and Full Council to explore options for proposals for a lower Council Tax increase of only 3%. This work will be predicated on approval from the Council’s Finance team alongside balanced, evidenced ways to create further efficiencies or income.
Council Leader’s statement
Council Leader, Drew Mellor, said, "We want to build on the success of last year, where we saw our investments make a real difference to our vibrant and varied communities.
"The impact of the cost-of-living is being felt by households throughout Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and the Council is no different. This year has been an unprecedented one for all councils – but our early, proactive budget management has put us in a good place to face tomorrow’s challenges with a balanced budget and a plan to increase income, work efficiently and deliver for our residents, businesses and visitors. Ending the year with a budget surplus to help this work is a testament to the incredible hard work of the whole Council team.
"And we’re investing not only in our support for the most vulnerable children and adults in our communities, we’re also continuing our ambitions to rejuvenate areas such as Boscombe, Poole and Bournemouth town centres, invest in our seafront and build safe and vibrant communities for all.
"Even the way we undertake regeneration to improve our place means that the funding now comes from the projects themselves rather than council tax payers. And we’re making the most of grants and funding available to us to achieve our regeneration ambitions.
"But I recognise that it’s not just the council facing pressure on finances – our residents are also finding household budgets stretched. That’s why, although I’m pleased that these initial proposals - which see a council tax increase at less than half the level of inflation - do a good job of balancing the books and continuing our investment in services, I want to go further.
"I will therefore be spending the time between now and our Full Cabinet meeting continuing our long standing workstream to find credible ways, which meet all the respective government guidelines, to raise more income, use our assets and work differently to realise our aspiration of keeping council tax in people’s pockets. Being successful in this endeavour would have the added impact of being able to continue to significantly increase our reserves, avoid some of the savings we’ve identified and invest in new priorities.
"I’m proud of the budget work we’ve done to date, but give a commitment to council tax payers that we’ll keep working to make the situation even better and more sustainable. That’s what residents expect and deserve."
The report and full appendices are available to view here.