Tim's Council Diary: Clearing the Desk

4 Aug 2023
Money / banknotes (pounds sterling) in hand

Sometimes you have to clear the decks before you go away: this is that week.

Limited Cabinet business and a bunch of ward business (93 sent emails in the week - a light one!).

Officers and Cabinet Members are setting themselves up over the coming weeks to have what can only be described as a "wide ranging" budget review in the Autumn, as we seek to turn the financial ship the previous adminsitration left us which forecasts £18m shortfall over the next 4 years, and creates instead a sustainable budget.

With limited remaining reserves, and the expenditure over the last few years funded by using those dwindling reserves, we have a big job to do, but are cautiously optimistic that if we all understand the imprtance of the job, we can do it. Proposals will be discussed with and between all lead officers and Cabinet members between now and October, with those ideas also put to financial scrutiny. The intention thoughout: protect all key services. Do our job more efficiently.

Councils elsewhere in the country are issuing section 114 notices after disastrous financial mis-management (often by previous administrations) indicating they are in real financial distress. We are determined that will not happen here.

Larry Ngan and Lib Dem Campaigners on The Leas, Folkestone

Sign up
for email updates

You can opt-out at any time
The Liberal Democrats may use the information you provide, including your political opinions, to further our objectives and share it with our elected representatives. Any data we gather will be used in accordance with our privacy policy: libdems.org.uk/privacy. You can exercise your rights and withdraw your consent to future communications by contacting us: data.protection@libdems.org.uk or: DPO, Lib Dems, 1 Vincent Square, SW1P 2PN.

Donate
to fuel our campaigns

Larry Ngan, Daniel and Fry with "Build More Houses" t-shirt on The Leas, Folkestone

This website uses cookies

Like most websites, this site uses cookies. Some are required to make it work, while others are used for statistical or marketing purposes. If you choose not to allow cookies some features may not be available, such as content from other websites. Please read our Cookie Policy for more information.

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the website to function properly.
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.
Marketing cookies are used by third parties or publishers to display personalized advertisements. They do this by tracking visitors across websites.