Residents and businesses are being urged to help to shape our financial plans and outline their priorities for key services amid major financial pressures on our budget.
We are responsible for a wide range of essential services from social care, education, housing and leisure to roads, transport, waste collection and recycling.
However, we are facing intense financial pressures in a situation mirrored across the local government sector.
The deeply rural parts of North Yorkshire mean that providing services to often remote communities increases costs significantly, and there is growing demand for adult social care and support for children and young people, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities.
A countywide consultation called Let’s Talk Money has been launched today (Thursday 1 October) to gather the public’s views and pinpoint the key priorities for our budget for the next financial year and the Council Plan for 2027/28.
Our council leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: “Our annual Let’s Talk Money survey gives our residents and businesses the opportunity to have a say on what our priorities should be to provide important services to the public.
“We are committed to ensuring we offer the very best value for our taxpayers, and it is vital that we are able to see exactly what people see as the main priorities. I would urge as many people as possible to give their views in such an important consultation for the county.”
The County Councils Network, which represents 39 local authorities including ourselves, warned this week of the mounting financial pressures nationally.
It said that county and rural unitary councils are on course to spend £7 billion more a year on services by 2028, unless the Government acts with a comprehensive package of investment and reform in this month’s Autumn Budget.
We have been faced with the loss of more than £40 million in funding from the Government over just the past two financial years.
Ministers have placed a heavy reliance on the county’s taxpayers to finance the authority’s budget, and the Government has said that it expects council tax to rise by 4.99 per cent over three years to help plug funding gaps. However, the funding settlement from Westminster does not take into account increasing inflation, which is adding further pressure on our finances.
Among the greatest pressures on our budget is the need to provide vital support for vulnerable people across the county, with 34 per cent of our £1.4 billion annual budget being spent on adult social care.
Our executive member for finance, Cllr Peter Wilkinson, said: “We have always prided ourselves on the fact that our finances have been well managed, which has been so important with the challenges we are facing for our budget.
“We will listen and take into account all the views and comments we receive to help us to shape the priorities for the next financial year.”
Despite the financial challenges, a series of major projects are being undertaken across North Yorkshire. A total of £40 million of investment has been secured to transform leisure services and plans have been approved to deliver a minimum of 500 new council homes by 2029, with more than £40 million invested in existing properties.
A new model for waste recycling is being introduced to allow more waste to be diverted from landfill. Key transport projects that are critical to the region include the multi-million pound project to create a new stretch of the A59 at Kex Gill to prevent disruption caused by landslips. The new stretch of road opened to traffic in August.
The Let’s Talk Money survey is asking people to say how important our key priorities of affordable homes, promoting health and wellbeing, providing education and social care support, reducing the impact of climate change, supporting the local economy and transport are to them. This year’s Let’s Talk Money survey is asking for the public’s views on the second homes council tax premium.
The public are also being asked if they are prepared to support an increase in council tax and a precept to pay for adult social care. A total of 77 per cent of people who responded to last year’s survey said that they would support a rise in council tax to help deliver critical services.
More than 2,700 responses were received during last year’s survey, and the five most important services were highways and transportation, education, waste and environment, children’s social care, and adult social care. These five services account for 60 per cent of our budget.
The results of the consultation will be included in a report on the proposed budget for the 2027/28 financial year which will be considered by our executive in January before a final decision will be made at a full council meeting the following month.
The online survey is available to fill out on our website and closes on Thursday 26 November.
Alternative formats of the consultation and supporting information are available on request by emailing LetsTalk@northyorks.gov.uk or calling 0300 131 2 131 and saying ‘Let’s Talk Money’ when prompted.
Paper copies will also be available from all libraries in North Yorkshire.