We want your views on Council spending

Rotherham Council is asking local residents and businesses for their views on how it should prioritise its spending over the next 12 months.

The Council is responsible for a budget of over £230m which it uses to provide a huge range of public services in the borough, including social care for vulnerable adults and children, road maintenance, school places, job creation, housing, libraries, bin collections, community safety, parks, planning and licensing.
 
Over the last 12 month the Council has also been at the forefront of the response to the Coronavirus pandemic in Rotherham, providing vital support to families and businesses most in need whilst continually adapting to ensure the vast majority of its services could continue as the restrictions changed.
 
The Council will soon be setting its budget for the 2021/22 financial year and is offering local people the opportunity to comment on how the Council can set spending plans to address the issues that matter most to them.
 
People can register their views on the Council’s website by 26 January.
 
Councillor Chris Read, Leader of Rotherham Council said: “I am proud of the resourceful way the Council has been able to respond to the pandemic, in spite of being severely weakened by ten years of Government austerity which has forced us to make £200m in savings and cost us around 1,800 jobs since 2011.
 
“Because of the responsible approach we have taken locally, we won’t need to make further cuts to services next year, beyond the
changes that have already been announced in previous years. Whilst that is still a very challenging position, it certainly puts us in a better place than some other councils across the country.
 
"At the same, time we know that the government is asking councils to raise council tax by up to 5% in order to support local services, so until we can get a fair deal, the national funding we can expect is still very tight. However we do expect to be able to press ahead with our ambitious capital investments in projects such as new Council housing, roads improvements and regeneration of our town centre, as we have set out over the last four years."
 
Concillor Saghir Alam, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance, added: “It’s really important that people tell us about what we need to do to address the issues that impact them. Our consultation consists of just three questions, will only take a few minutes to complete but is really important in influencing how we prioritise our resources in the coming year.”
 
Responses to the consultation will be fed into the budget report to be considered by the Council’s Cabinet at its meeting on 15  February, before the final budget is set at Full Council on 3rd March.

Published: 14th January 2021