Council launches budget consultation and invites residents to have their say
The Council has launched its budget consultation to understand residents’ views on some of the savings proposals that would impact them.
Havering Council currently has a budget gap of £4.26m in 2018/19. This has been affected by the reduction in government grant funding, along with an increase demand for housing and significant increase in the number of adults and children who require council services.
By 2020/21, central government intend to reform the system for funding local government which will mean all local authorities will need to be self-sufficient.
This year we are consulting on proposals for savings across the five- year period of 2018/19 to 2022/23 which will create total savings of around £11m.
The full list of proposals can be found at www.havering.gov.uk/consultations where residents can also have their say.
Councillor Roger Ramsey, Leader of the Council, said: “In Havering we have great demands on our services such as children and adults social care as well as housing. We work hard to provide all key services that our residents require as we always put the needs of the borough first.
On top of providing crucial frontline services, by law, we must balance our budgets and with a current gap of £4.26m we must put forward proposals to address this. The outcomes of this consultation will be analysed and presented at our full Council meeting in February where we will make a decision about the final budget for 2018/19, including council tax payments.
I encourage all residents to give us their thoughts by completing the budget survey.