Budget gap: Officer says Broxtowe Council could be ‘£2m adrift’ by next year

An update on the council’s current financial projections and budget was discussed by its cabinet in a meeting on November 4.

Budget papers show the revised estimated budget gap for the current 2025-26 financial year is around £1.598m, potentially growing to around £2.59m by the 2029-30 financial year.

Speaking on the forecast deficit for the current financial year, Coun Greg Marshall (Brox All), council deputy leader, said: “Let’s call it a worst-case scenario draw on balances – there are a number of, and a series of, both efficiencies, savings and additional income sources which in the end total to £835,000.

“If you net those two figures off, you see a potential draw on balances of about £700,000.

"There is the opportunity to have additional underspend and ensure our balances remain as healthy as they have done for a number of years.”

As part of the council’s budgeting, it is has a set of identified potential savings and income for 2026-27.

Part of this income includes the authority expecting to make £60,000 in additional income if the next council tax rise goes up by an assumed two per cent and £50,000 additional income from its Beeston Square redevelopment project.

The authority also proposes finding £50,000 in savings across park attendants and security, £15,000 in savings from its cemetery service and staffing efficiencies causing a £50,000 reduction in salary spend.

Martin Payne, a finance officer at the council, said: “Financial management to date, we’re showing good levels of performance and savings are being achieved.”

But he added the authority ‘could be £2m adrift’ by 2026-27 if ‘we carry on as we are’.

He said the identified savings for 2026-27 are ‘early’, adding: “Those operational efficiencies, some growth within the services that we provide and increase fees and charges will go some way towards bridging that gap and mitigating the risk.”

Earlier on in the meeting, Mr Payne said the upcoming provisional financial settlement in December – which will outline what money the Government is going to give to local authorities – is the ‘biggest risk’ to the council’s budget, saying: “We’re currently unsighted on the outcome of the fair funding review and associated business rates retention.”

An element of the council’s planned additional income in 2026-27 relates to £10,000 of garden waste income, where the authority wants to increase service users by freezing the first bin at £45 each year but generate further income by increasing the price of each additional bin from £26 to £30 each year.

Responding to this, Coun Philip Owen (Con) said: “If putting the price up for the first bin results in a tail off of usage – a decrease in usage that you’ve got to freeze the price, why can you be so confident that you are going to get much additional revenue by putting up the price of additional bins?

“Surely far better simply to freeze the prices?”

The cabinet approved the updates to the authority’s budget projections until 2029-30.