Comprehensive Spending Review
Thursday 21st October
2010
The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson,
has pledged to fight for frontline services for local residents
following the steep reduction in government funding announced
today.
Bedford Borough Council has already made
£2.5million of savings as a result of in year cuts in funding from
the Government. Meanwhile, the council has been working hard to
identify proposals to save more than £10 million for next year's
budget by transforming the way the council operates.
Funding to provide council services comes from
Central Government, income generation and local council tax. The
announcement from the government looks set to cut the funding given
to councils across the country by 28% over the next four years. The
council is introducing many initiatives to save money, and is
particularly looking to make savings on back office costs wherever
possible. However, the scale of the challenge means that other
tough decisions to bridge the funding gap will have to be
considered
Bedford Borough Mayor, Dave Hodgson, said:
“I want residents to know that I will be
ruthless in cutting out waste and fighting to protect frontline
services. But there is no doubt that dealing with these funding
cuts will be a significant task
With local people under their own financial
pressures, we have been working hard to deliver a freeze on council
tax and prioritise frontline services. We’ve already found over
£2.5million of savings following in year government cuts. In
addition, we were one of the first authorities in the country to
launch a public consultation on proposals for next year's budget.
As well as improving the way we work these plans could save us more
than £10million so that we can deliver a budget that protects
services and enables us to meet our aim of freezing council tax for
local residents.
“My priorities are to cut costs within the
council infrastructure, squeeze out greater efficiency, and deliver
services in new ways that will make the money go further.”
Cllr Michael Headley, Finance Portfolio Holder
added:
“Ever since last year’s budget was agreed we
have been looking at ways to transform and protect the services
that the council provides and deliver a budget for 2011/12 that
freezes council tax. Following this announcement we remain
committed to this aim .We have to balance the budget and it will
take some imaginative and robust decisions to achieve this with
this scale of reduction in funding from the government.”