How the council intends to close its funding gap and deliver a balanced budget for next year will be discussed at a meeting of Norwich City Council’s cabinet next week. And this will pave the way for a consultation, which will seek the views of businesses and residents on the council’s budget for 2022-23, to launch on Thursday 9 December.
Norwich, including the city council and a range of partners, has responded impressively to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Not just in making sure city businesses and some of the most vulnerable in our communities have been supported, but at the same time delivering against ambitious priorities set out in the city’s shared vision and covid recovery plans.
This has included issuing payments of more than £73m in business grants since November 2020, the opening of a new state-of-the-art Digi-Tech Factory – an investment in the development of skills in the technology sectors, vital to the city’s education and economic growth – as well as making strides in the work to tackle the climate emergency by establishing the independent Norwich Climate Commission and making fresh and even more ambitious targets to get the city to zero emissions.
Yet, the city council’s financial modelling shows a need to make savings of £6.5m in 2022-23 and £10.6m over the next four years; and this is after eleven years of austerity and already having delivered around £42m of additional income or savings over that period.
Cabinet will be asked to give the green-light to the council’s approach and to ask the public for its views on the following:
- A council tax rise up to the maximum allowable, which is currently 1.99 per cent – equivalent to 11p a week for properties in Band D (although for the majority of Norwich residents it’ll be lower as most homes are in band A or B)
- An approach to setting a balanced budget based on these themes:
- Driving value from our assets – reviewing the letting and sales opportunities for buildings and spaces we own
- Driving value from our contracts – reviewing our contracts so we’re negotiating better terms, where possible or delivering services directly rather than through contractors
- Inward investment and growth – exploring development opportunities which could eventually provide additional income
- Transforming services – reviewing the way we deliver services and working practices
- Commercialisation, including fees and charges – increasing the amounts we charge for some of our services
- Stopping things – consulting people on the potential to reduce or stop services
- Using reserves – using some of the money we have put aside to give more time to develop and implement proposals.
The work to develop a full range of options on how we’ll deliver against the themes set out above is already underway. Initially, people will be asked to share their views on our approach – the overarching principles for how we intend to steer our finances and balance our budget both for 2022/23 and over the next few years too.
Where the detail for taking projects forward have been worked up and indicate impact on service users, further consultation will take place.
Councillor Paul Kendrick cabinet member for corporate resources said:
“Since we started to set our budget this time last year, we can be proud of what the city has pulled together to achieve. Not just in the response to the pandemic, but also achieving a host of great things to make sure Norwich continues to thrive and grow.
Setting a balanced budget is never an easy task, but particularly when this has to be done in the context of a number of uncertainties over government funding and the ongoing impact of Covid-19.
One thing is certain, though, that it's important we continue to rise to the challenges and maintain our proven track record of prudent financial planning and careful management of resources, as well as innovation in delivering services to our residents and businesses.
Doing this while being open about our approach, the challenges we face, and how we intend to meet changing local need is vital and hearing from local people on what matters to them is a critical to our continued success. It is important that we hear your voice when we are considering the budget options.”
Budget next steps
- Cabinet will meet on Wednesday 8 December to discuss the financial approach the council is proposing to take. The full agenda and reports that will be discussed can be found on our website. The meeting will be livestreamed, as well as a recording available, on our YouTube channel.
- The public consultation on Norwich City Council’s budget for 2022-23 will run from Thursday 9 December 2021 until Wednesday 19 January 2022 and will be available on the council’s website www.norwich.gov.uk/consultations.
- The provisional local government settlement (where we hear how much the funding local government will receive from central government) will be announced around the middle of December 2021.
- The results of the public consultation will be collated, analysed and inform the final proposals when considered by the full council – which is the meeting of all 39 elected councillors – on Tuesday 22 February 2022.
- Further consultation will be carried out when projects have been developed.
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