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Suffolk County Council: Maximum rise in council tax and £65m in savings proposed

BBC/Ben Parker Conservative councillor Richard RoutBBC/Ben Parker
Richard Rout said £105m of next year's budget is down to inflation and increased demand

A council has outlined plans to cut £65m from its budget and hike council tax by the maximum amount allowed.

The 2024-2025 budget proposals from Suffolk County Council include cutting £11m in staffing costs and £500,000 in arts and museums funding.

A 4.99% council tax rise is planned, which amounts to about £75 a year for a band D property.

Full proposals for the £752m budget will be presented to the council's scrutiny committee on 11 January.

Deputy council leader Richard Rout said: "This is the most challenging budget-setting process the council has faced for many years.

"We have spent months scrutinising all the council's spending.

"There is competition for every pound across all our services, and I understand that each service means something to someone."

EPA Suffolk County Council headquartersEPA
Suffolk County Council are setting a budget of £752m for next year

The proposals include:

  • Saving £30.6m by reducing demand for more expensive social care options through technology and other means
  • Centralising archive services at The Hold and closing the branches in West and East Suffolk
  • Using £15.9m of reserves to balance the budget
  • Ending core funding to art and museum sector organisations
  • Restructuring to save £11m in annual staffing costs

Owen Calvert-Lyons, artistic director at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, has criticised the plan to end arts and museum core funding.

"With a small staff team of only 25, who have worked tirelessly over the past few years to recover from Covid and get Theatre Royal back on its feet, the loss of county council investment will be devastating for all of us," he said.

"Without arts and culture, Suffolk will be a far poorer place to live."

The county council said it would set aside £528,000 in Covid recovery cash for the next year to support art and museum organisations during the transition.

Andrew Stringer, leader of the coalition Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent opposition group, said: "We have warned for years that the Conservatives should have made small tax increases over the years, but now they are in a position where they are forced to increase council tax to the maximum while also introducing serious cuts that will affect us all."

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