Date: 21 December 2006 21:21

COUNCIL LAUNCHES BUDGET CONSULTATION

Cambridgeshire County Council is about to launch a major consultation which 
will help shape its spending plans for the next financial year - 2007-08.

The public, partner agencies and organisations throughout Cambridgeshire, 
are being asked to give their spending preferences - assuming the County 
Council raises Council Tax by 5% next year.

 The County Council faces soaring demand for services generated by 
Cambridgeshire's burgeoning population, whilst at the same time being given 
a low level of growth in Government funding.

 To give a few examples, inflation currently stands at around 2.4%, but the 
rising cost of fuel means that the cost of providing school transport will 
increase by 6%; the Government's landfill tax is going up 14% and inflation 
in highway maintenance - due to rising oil prices and the cost of extracting 
aggregates used in road building - has pushed inflation here to 7%.

Over the last two years, there has been a 21% increase in the number of 
people with learning disabilities using social services, while demand for 
social care is rising by 6% a year.

But at the same time, Cambridgeshire's Government grant increase for next 
year is 2.9% while funding for all local government will increase by 4.9% 
and shire counties get an average boost of 3.8%.

In previous years the County Council has consulted on a range of Council Tax 
increases, but  the council has set a rise of 5% as its preferred option for 
next year - but even that level of increase leaves some difficult spending 
decisions to be made which will inevitably impact on services provided to 
the community.

The Government has indicated that it is likely to cap any council which 
increases Council Tax by more than 5% next year.

County Council Deputy Leader, Councillor John Reynolds, said: "Anything less 
than a 5% increase would be hugely damaging for services - but even that 
won't allow us to maintain existing levels of service. It will not be 
sufficient to meet the many increased costs we face, but we don't feel it is 
fair to expect taxpayers - especially older people and those on fixed 
incomes - to pay more.

"But even with a 5% increase the implications for County Council services 
are serious. That is why we want people to tell us where they think our 
spending priorities should be."

Copies of the consultation questionnaire will also be available in public 
libraries and from the New Year, on the County Council's website at 
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Work has already been carried out to identify where County Council spending 
could be cut by up to £18 million; in addition to saving even more money by 
streamlining back office and administration services within the County 
Council - options for service reductions could include:

 * Closure of one in-house learning disability respite service - leaving 
just two to serve Cambridgeshire.
* Reduce mobile library provision and spending on the book fund for 
libraries.
* Close one of the County Council's 10 household Waste Recycling Centres.
* Cut contract bus services.
* Reduce road and footpath resurfacing.
* Cut the opening hours of the Cambridgeshire Direct Contact Centre - 
currently 8.00 am-8.00 pm, six days a week.

The closing date for return of the consultation forms is February 12, 2007.

John Reynolds