Cambridgeshire County Council has today (23 October), shared a series of connected strategic plans as the council prepares to develop its Business Plan and Budget proposals for 2025 and beyond.
In reports, published ahead of next week’s Strategy, Resources and Performance committee (31 October), County Councillors will discuss:
- The council’s refreshed Strategic Framework – setting out how the authority is progressing against its seven ambitions to deliver the council’s vision of a greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire;
- The 2024 Quality of life survey results, which involved interviews with over 5,500 residents from across the county to provide, for the second year running, a strong evidence base for the council to understand residents’ priorities and build them into its future plans;
- The council’s Change Strategy – which, for the first time, sets out an approach to reform and develop the council’s own services and operations, by focussing on areas such as workforce, digital, data and technology, the use of the council’s assets and buildings and working more effectively with residents and customers;
- The current financial position of the council also forecasts an overspend of £9.6m (2%) for 2024-25 and actions to help bring the level of overspends down.
Other important reports being discussed, are the council’s consultation and engagement strategy to ensure that resident’s and communities voices are heard on an ongoing basis and a revised performance management framework to track how we are delivering against our ambitions and provide even greater transparency and scrutiny over the council’s services.
These strategies ‘set the scene’ for the council’s future planning, as well as the need to continually adapt, innovate, and improve within a tight financial envelope. The county council’s own estimated budget gap for 2025/26 has increased from a predicted £23.5m to more than £39m – largely due to a combination of increasing demand for services, inflationary pressures, and uncertainty over future funding from Government.
Over the last 10 years, the council’s core government funding has reduced by 70% in real terms. This combined with more steep rises in inflation and a surge in demand for services that support some of our most vulnerable residents, has added further cost pressures to the council.
However, the council has sought to highlight how it is already delivering following record levels of investment in highways, taking an innovative approach to converting farmhouses into residential homes for children in care, whilst maintaining and enhancing our libraries to bring a broader range of services closer to our communities.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Lucy Nethsingha said:
“I’m very proud of the approach that we have taken to meet the huge challenges that we face as a county over the medium-term. We are making significant progress against our clear vision to deliver a greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire.
“We know that next year’s budget – with a gap of £39m - is going to be incredibly challenging. This reflects the situation faced by councils across the whole country, including the much profiled pressures on key services such as special educational needs and disability services, and the cost of home to school transport.
“This will mean some tough choices lie ahead but we are committed to ensuring that we deliver the best outcomes for our communities right across Cambridgeshire and, as shown in our change strategy, designing an effective and efficient council, built for the future.”
Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Elisa Meschini said:
“To reduce our own costs, the council is already taking a number of steps, such as opening its own Children’s residential centres, reviewing the long-term approach to our waste disposal arrangements and driving forward with the final connection of our renewable energy schemes. These will help us to deliver an improved quality of life for our residents.
“We will continue with the significant levels of investment we have made in improving our highways, paying social care workers the real living wage, alleviating the impact of poverty and providing holiday food vouchers for our most vulnerable families.
“We know we have to set a balanced budget and also know how challenging this continues to be. We will come back in December with specific proposals for the draft Business Plan and Budget, with a focus on delivering ever greater value for money, whilst prioritising spending to deliver a greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire.”