Agenda item

This presentation will outline the Council’s strategy to the 2023-24 Budget within the context of the Corporate Plan.?  The presentation will provide details of the approach to setting the budget for the next financial year and the broad impact this will have on the delivery of services.

A presentation was provided by Councillor Sanderson, Leader and Councillor Wearmouth, Deputy Leader which gave information on the State of the County reflecting on the work the Council were undertaking based on the Council’s priorities of providing value for money, tackling inequalities and delivering growth and jobs.  A copy of the presentation would be filed with the signed minutes of the meeting and uploaded to the Committee papers on the Council’s website. 

Following consultation with residents a number of park commemoration schemes had been announced to form a countywide celebration of the life of the late Queen Elizabeth II.  Information on what the Council was doing to help address inequalities in health and education, with the belief that all children should be offered the same opportunity in life to flourish, and the financial support being offered to those people most in need were outlined.  The response by residents and communities to an appeal for donations to support Ukrainian nationals had been tremendous.  The Council’s current Capital Programme included over £806m investment in 2022-2026 to ensure that the infrastructure and facilities were provided to drive future growth and job creation within the County along with further investments through the Borderlands Partnership and North of Tyne Combined Authority. 

The Council was continuing to invest in education and skills with a number of capital projects coming forward to in relation to schools within the Coquet, Berwick and Seaton Valley areas along with other educational facilities to grow the skills needed by local employers and industries.   At the last focussed visit held in July 2022 in relation to children’s social work Ofsted had found many positives in the Council’s practice and procedures and in April 2022 88% of the County’s schools were judged to be good or better.   

The commitment to maintain frontline services had remained with increased funding for highway maintenance in 2022-23, however the recent bad weather had impacted on the number of defects on the road network being reported.  The Council had been praised for its work in supporting people requiring care packages after being discharged from hospital and was grateful for staff who provided this service.  There was always a need to attract more care workers  and travel allowances had been increased to try to encourage more people into this sector.

A new Chief Executive was to start at the Council on 8 February 2023 and recruitment was also underway for a new Executive Team.  The Corporate Plan was to be refreshed to drive improvements in all services and a Strategic Change Programme developed to deliver the things that were most important to residents in a cost-effective way.  It was hoped that compulsory redundancies could be avoided, but this could not be guaranteed.  The recently announced Government settlement had been better than expected and new legislation would give the Council more power to address issues related to second or vacant homes and the pressure this put on some communities.  There would still be inflationary pressures on the budget going forward in relation to pay and other factors.  Details of the proposed budget would be released at the beginning of February and all Members would be invited to the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 February 2023.

Members highlighted that the provision of free car parking in town centres, whilst not cheap for the Council to provide, helped sustain the town centres and small businesses.  In response to questions in relation to the high number of excess school places within the County especially in the smaller rural areas where there was not a lot of housing investment, investments in solar panels and ash tree dieback, the Leader advised that he would like scrutiny to do a review and take learning from others and report back on ash tree dieback.  There was £50m set aside to build affordable housing in areas where this was needed, however there were some issues with land availability in some areas. There was also a need for some communities to accept that some housing development was needed.  In respect of solar power, there were a number of capital grants available from Government and the Council was investing in a solar car park at County Hall and permission had been granted for two solar farms.  Issues with the grid connections were known and work with major employers and Governing was ongoing to ensure that the grid was fit for purpose.

Members in welcoming the improvements in schools and within Children’s services, acknowledged that there was a national shortage of social workers and that the causes of inequalities were of a national and international making and could not be resolved by the work of one local authority, although the measures being undertaken by the Council to try to address these inequalities were supported.  The ability to provide a good education and skills training linked to local employment in order to break the cycle of generational workless households was key and it was hoped that the proposed devolution deal would allow the authority to build on what was already being done.   Members were encouraged to visit the new Seghill Training Centre where pupils were learning skills which would offer them the opportunity to have good jobs in the future.