Translate Accessibility statementPrivacy RegisterLog in A-Z HomeAbout the councilCouncil budgets and spendingConsultation on budget proposals for 2022-2023 Home About the council Councillors and meetings Guidance and information on Brexit Get in touch Council budgets and spending Our spending and accounts Council Plan 2020 to 2024 and budget 2021 to 2025 Consultation on budget proposals for 2021-2022 Consultation on budget proposals for 2022-2023 Documents, policies and plans The Mayor Our organisation Facts and figures Your right to know Legal Consultation on budget proposals for 2022 to 2023 Introduction We provide day-to-day services for communities across the borough, including waste and recycling collections, keeping streets and areas clean, community safety patrols and supporting vulnerable residents. As well as providing services that residents value, we are an ambitious council working with the private sector on a number of strategic projects, which will ensure the borough remains a great place to live. We want to protect our front line services that you value most. To do this we have and continue to look at how we can do things differently. Each year we are required by law to set a budget, which shows how we plan to pay for our services for the following year and beyond to understand the financial pressures we will face in future years. As a result of past decisions, the council’s finances are in a strong position and we have responded well to issues that face local government during one of the most challenging financial periods in history. Due to cuts in government funding, the council has lost £7.04 million of funding since 2010. Despite making £17.3 million of savings since 2009, the council is facing a £1.2 million budget gap by 2025/26. On this page An overview of council funding Our proposals for 2022 to 2023 How to provide your comments An overview of council funding There are three main sources of money that we have access to – revenue budget, capital budget and reserves. You can find out more about how we use these budgets by watching the animation below: title="THe difference between revenue and capital budgets" Our revenue budget is the funding that we have to deliver our day-to-day services and we raise this income in a number of ways including the borough’s share of your annual council tax bill, business rates, fees and charges for additional services. Unlike many other councils we have a large commercial property and cash investments portfolios. The income we get from property we own is double the amount we get from council tax and business rates. For a closer look on how we raise income, please watch the animation below: title="Where the council gets its funding from" Here is a breakdown on how we spent our revenue budget last year: Capital funding is used to improve facilities, undertake large scale projects, investments and purchase property, which will provide income to help pay for our services. We also have to hold funds in case we don’t receive the income that we expect or have to incur additional expenditure. These are called reserves, with some of this money allocated for specific purposes. Reserves cannot be used to fund ongoing spending and are finite. It is also important to have reserves to help us pay for emergencies and unexpected events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The reserves we currently hold are equivalent to the money we spend on our services for about 18 months. Our proposals for 2022 to 2023 The proposed budget sets out how we plan to use our resources to deliver our day-to-day services and support the priorities identified in the Council Plan 2020 to 2024. Our focus is to lay strong foundations that will shape the way the borough grows over the next 25 to 30 years and deliver opportunities for all communities, ensuring Basingstoke and Deane remains a great place to live and work. With a funding gap of £1.2 million predicted in 2025/26, the context in which we are working to deliver our priorities is challenging: Central government is expecting local councils to be more self-sufficient in the way they fund services for residents Government funding reductions also affect Hampshire County Council, which looks after areas such as education and highways, and it has recently identified significant savings measures that are likely to impact the borough council provision Just doing the same costs more so we need to transform the way we work and regularly look for new ways to raise income. The budget proposals will ensure we are in a good financial position so we can protect and invest in front line services, support the borough’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and shape the future of the borough. We have identified additional proposals to make savings and increase income by £0.94 million in 2022/23, increasing to £1.66 million by 2025/26. Alongside this, we have pressures of £0.91 million in 2022/23, reducing to £0.74 million in 2025/26. As part of the 2022/23 budget, we are proposing the following: Increasing the borough council’s contribution of council tax by £5 per year (10p per week), bringing the total for the average household to £136.42. This is likely to make us one of the lowest of the districts in Hampshire, and most of the rest of the country, again. Reviewing the charges for optional services the council provides, such as car parking. The proposals include an average 3% increase in fees and charges to cover inflation and rising costs. Increases have been carefully considered to ensure that costs are affordable and competitive against other councils and providers. This is a fair way of balancing the cost between those who decide to use these optional services and everyone having to pay. Reviewing our services in line with the priorities identified in the Council Plan 2020 to 2024 to ensure our services continue to meet residents’ needs now and into the future. Proposals include increasing charges for optional waste services, introducing concessionary charges for pest control for those on means-tested benefits, an increase in residents’ parking permits and reviewing our council tax reduction and business rates relief schemes. Recognising the importance of front line services, additional funding is being proposed for grounds maintenance, street cleansing, green spaces, housing and homelessness support and customer services. As well as the services we are responsible for, we have continued to fund other services and activities that would have been lost without our support. However we need to make sure we can continue to provide vital services that residents value while not burdening the tax payer with extra costs. As a result, we are proposing to review the level of support we provide for services and activities run by other organisations including bus services, funding for additional Dial-A-Ride hours and the Think Safe, Kite Festival, Transport Festival and Festival of Sport events. Looking at how we work to ensure that as an organisation, we continue to work more efficiently. This also includes looking at ways the council can bring in additional income through commercialisation activity, maintaining our assets and transforming the way we deliver our services. For more information about our proposals, please watch this animation below. title="Basingstoke and Deane Budget Proposals" How to provide your comments We would like to invite you to comment on our budget proposals as your views are important to us. Your feedback will inform the final proposals for the decision-making at Cabinet and Council in February 2022. The deadline for comments on the council’s 2022 to 2023 budget proposals is Sunday 2 January 2022. The following documents will help inform your responses: Cabinet report on budget proposals for 2022 to 2023 (opens in a new window) (PDF)[1088 kb] Appendix 1 - Summary all savings and income proposals (opens in a new window) (PDF)[148 kb] Equality Impact Assessment of the 2022 to 2023 budget proposals (opens in a new window) (PDF)[2404 kb] You can respond by: Completing this online survey Alternatively: Email us at customerservice@basingstoke.gov.uk. Post your response to Budget consultation, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Civic Offices, London Road, Basingstoke, RG21 4AH If you need this information in a different format, such as paper copy or large print, please contact us by email at customer.service@basingstoke.gov.uk, or call 01256 844844. Contact us Contact us online 01256 844844 Civic Offices London Road Basingstoke RG21 4AH Sign up to our newsletter Sign up for email updates on council services, news and events. www.basingstoke.gov.uk/signup Give us feedback Our website uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to make our site work and others help us to improve by giving us some insight into how the site is being used. For more information please view our Cookies policy. I'm OK with analytics cookies Do not use analytics cookies