Council budget reveals plans to invest millions in schools, streets and revamping local centres in Telford

The Telford & Wrekin Council proposals include £54m for Growth Fund to bring jobs to the borough, £30m for transport and highways schemes and over £26m will go into Towns Fund projects to revamp local centres.

More than £45m will go into expanding and improving Telford schools and £1.7m will help protect and enhance local green spaces. Meanwhile, an additional £7.7m will take total investment into adult social care to £76m as the Council works to protect the most vulnerable.

The authority has also moved to assure residents that "every penny of money raised" through the impending council tax increase will be fully invested into social care "to help fill the well-publicised national funding shortfalls".

Despite the increase, residents are set to continue paying the lowest council tax rates in the Midlands and some of the lowest in the country.

Telford & Wrekin Council said the delivery of £11.8m of ongoing savings, which includes bringing in additional income, "will ensure the Council’s financial position remains robust and sustainable without needing to draw on reserves nor impact residents by reducing front-line services or introducing new charges for services."

Councillor Lee Carter, Leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “Following 15 years of continued government reductions to council finances, we are as committed as ever to be putting forward a balanced budget which is investing in our residents.

“We promise to do three things. The first is to make sure the Council is as efficient as possible whilst the second is to promise that the Council will explore all avenues for raising new income from sources other than Council Tax. And the third is to ensure that we retain the lowest Council Tax in the Midlands by keeping any increases as reasonable as possible given the constraints we operate in.

“As well as the key investment areas, we are committed to retaining much-loved services like fortnightly garden waste collections at no additional cost and free parking across much of the borough whilst also continuing to deliver community events and a quality leisure and culture offer.

“We’re proposing a financially responsible and ambitious budget which will see significant investments made in jobs, skills, highways, better local public transport, protection of green spaces and housing to improve people’s lives. We’ll always invest in our residents.

“We also plan to expand investment in our successful income-generating schemes. Our commercial approach, which generates an ongoing return to invest into frontline services, has helped us weather the financial storm of the last few years and so we will look to continue with this proven strategy.

“Despite our strong track record in income generation, these sums can only go so far in plugging the huge funding gap that we and all other councils are facing, particularly around social care. And so, while retaining one of the lowest rates in the whole country, we propose increasing Council Tax in 2025, with the additional income generated going directly into social care services.”

'Councils are under severe financial strain'

The Council’s budget report, which went to a meeting of the Cabinet on 6 January, references a Local Government Association (LGA) report which confirmed “councils are under severe financial strain” with a funding gap of £6.2bn predicted over the next two years.

Meanwhile, a stark new LGA survey found that “one in four councils in England say they are likely to have to apply for emergency government bailout agreements to stave off bankruptcy in the next two financial years”. It’s also widely reported that many authorities have contacted the Government about raising council tax beyond 4.99%.

Telford & Wrekin Council says its robust budget management over a number of years has placed the Council in a much stronger financial position than the majority of authorities across the country and this is reflected by the ambitious but responsible proposed budget.

Councillor Zona Hannington, Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Customer Services, said: “Our responsible and successful budget strategy has focused on prudent borrowing and smart investments.

“Nonetheless, like all councils, we face extreme external challenges with demand and costs for adult social care and children’s services continuing to rise. Our net budget for adult social care is forecast to be over £76m whilst children’s safeguarding budgets are around £49m, meaning these two critical areas of protecting the most vulnerable take up 75% of the Council’s revenue budget.

“Whilst this year’s financial settlement from the Government is a welcome improvement on previous years, we still have to be responsible in finding savings and ensuring the budget is positive and sustainable for years to come.”

Following Cabinet approval on 6 January, a four-week public consultation will now run on the draft budget proposal from 7 January to 5 February 2025.