Cotswold District Council to look at different ways to balance its budget in the future during national financial turmoil

Councillor Mike Evemy, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, said, “After a decade of funding cuts and now a period of economic and political instability, the Government is cutting off many avenues for local councils to raise the funding needed to run services and invest in the priorities our communities want to see addressed.

“We had planned for a series of investments that would bring income into the council, helping us manage the ongoing budget cuts from the Government. And these weren’t speculative investments, they would have been in schemes like solar farms that would have helped us move to local sustainable energy production as well as bringing in money that we could have spent on local projects. 

“Councils up and down the country have been doing this successfully for many years but now that inflation and interest rates are so high, we just cannot afford to go ahead with the investments we were exploring.

“Instead, we are going to have to look at much smaller schemes, but with the budget challenges we are facing, it means as a district council we are being hamstrung in our ability to tackle key issues like housing affordability, the climate emergency and to support our communities.

“We are working hard on alternative solutions to provide funding to secure the Council’s medium-term financial position but ultimately our options for balancing the budget are becoming fewer and fewer as our Government funding is cut and we exhaust options to increase our income.”

The Council has agreed to rescind the previously agreed ‘Recovery Investment Strategy’ which has been part of the Council's plan for managing its budget for the last two years. 

The Council will be considering its financial position as part of the budget-setting process for 2023/24 which will include options for how the Council can balance its budget in the coming years.

Residents can comment on the Council's proposed budget from 8 November to 9 December by visiting www.cotswold.gov.uk/budget