Norfolk County Council to consider budget proposal for county's Covid-19 recovery
Norfolk County Council are set to consider a budget proposal from Norfolk's Cabinet which supports the response to Covid-19 and invests in the county's recovery.
The Revenue and Capital budget package also responds to rising financial pressures and delivers critical infrastructure projects.
Cllr Andrew Jamieson, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for finance, said: “The current climate for local government finance is extremely challenging. We face major uncertainty about future funding, combined with rising pressures, and the significant financial impacts of fighting Covid 19.
"Once again, we have to tread carefully, but if we do so, our plan will allow us to both support the most vulnerable in Norfolk while also investing in key community services that really matter to our residents – including libraries, digital and physical infrastructure – to bring our economy back online after Covid."
Covering tax, spending and investment plans for 2021/22, the budget proposals will be put to members of Norfolk County Council for approval on Monday, February 22.
The council are proposing to raise general council tax by the government's guideline figure of 1.99 per cent, with further raises of the adult social care precept by 3 per cent over the following two years. This would raise the county council’s overall share of Council Tax by 3.99 per cent, increasing the share of band D bills by £56.43 to £1,472.94 for 2021-22.
They also propose to £28.2 million in adult social care, £7 million in children's services and £10.5 million in community and environmental services.
There are plans to make provision of £18.8 million which will be set aside for Covid-19 costs in 2021/22. Over £2 million will be provided in new funding to respond to flooding, with £235,000 going to Highways to reduce road flooding risks.
Each Local Member Fund will get an increase of £4,000, this will create a total of £10,000, which will be available to local parishes and communities to fund environmental projects.
There will also be various new schemes worth £3 million for improvements to greenways, footpaths and the national and Norfolk Trails network in the county.
You can view the full budget proposals, along with other issues to be considered by the Full Council meeting, plus a link to view it live, online at https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/Meetings/tabid/128/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/496/Meeting/1661/Committee/2/SelectedTab/Documents/Default.aspx
Ahead of this meeting, the council’s Scrutiny Committee will also consider the proposals on Wednesday, February 17.
