Cornwall Council budget plans cause 'worry'

A senior council officer has raised concerns over the local authority using cash reserves to sustain services.

Cornwall Council is scrutinising the budget for the next financial year which will see council tax rise by 2.99% and hundreds of jobs being cut.

A scrutiny committee heard in recent years it had needed to use its reserves to cover costs of general services.

The council's chief financial officer said this was "a worry" and something she was trying to reverse.

The council's overview and scrutiny committees have started to look at the budget plans in detail and provide feedback to the cabinet, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

Councillors in the economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee were concerned about the level of cuts being proposed as well as the state of the council's reserves.

Tracie Langley, the council's chief financial officer said: "The savings programme that we need to implement is larger than any we have ever seen before. It will be around £65m to £70m."

On reserves she commented: "That is my one worry, that we have been whittling down our reserves every year, that is one thing I am trying to reverse."

Ms Langley explained that her "one red line" in budget planning was to make sure that there were sufficient general reserves available for unexpected expenditure, such as covering costs for the Covid-19 pandemic.

A BBC investigation in July 2021 found that across the UK local authorities were facing a £3bn "black hole" in budgets due to the pressures of Covid.

Phil Mason, strategic director for economic growth and development, said he was concerned about the increased workload of the planning department and the service was "on a knife edge between coping and not coping".

The committee agreed to recommend the draft budget plans to the cabinet for approval.

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