Derbyshire council sets out ambitious plan despite multi-million pound cuts and saving strategies

The Conservative-led authority’s overall, refreshed Council Plan for 2024-25 was approved earlier in the year and on March 27 the council also voted in favour by a majority to approve its connected Departmental Service Plans for the 2024-25 financial year with a small number of councillors voting against and about a third abstaining across the authority’s political spectrum.

Council Leader, Cllr Barry Lewis, said: “One of the most important tasks of our year is to revisit and refresh our Council Plan and ensure it contains strong objectives for the year ahead, as well as highlighting our ambitions and values and the outcomes we will strive to achieve.

“This refreshed plan for 2024-25 will help us to steer a clear path to where we need to be over the course of the next 12 months while identifying the challenges along the way.”

The council has reduced its estimated in-year 2023-24 budget shortfall of £46.4m, announced in September, 2023, to around £34.1m and it has agreed to move more saving proposals to the next step to meet its budget deficit of over £39m for the 2024-25 financial year with its financial plight blamed on external economic influences.

And under its approved Service Plans for 2024-25 the council will be aiming to make savings worth millions of pounds from the beginning of the financial year which started on April 1.

These include over £19m of proposed savings for Adult Social Care and Health, proposed savings of over £12.5m for Children’s Services, £5.8m for Corporate Services and Transformation, and over £2.7m for the ‘Place’ department which deals with Economy and Regeneration, Environment and Transport and Highways,

Cllr Lewis has stressed the authority has begun adapting and implementing necessary budget cuts and saving proposals while pleading with the Government to step up to the challenges faced by councils nationwide.

Although, minority opposition Labour councillors have accused the Conservative-controlled council of having placed the authority on the precipice of bankruptcy.

The council’s plans include saving proposals likely to affect the elderly, disabled and children, and it has already stopped non-essential spending and implemented a hiring freeze, reduced residents’ capital entitlement limit for adult care from £50,000 to £23,250 and has increased the cost of a school meal by about 41per cent.

Its cabinet has also agreed to increase funding rates and fee levels to help its commissioned care home and home care providers meet the growing costs for the 2024-25 financial year and to address inflationary pressures and the need for better staff wages.

The council also recently held a public consultation about the proposed restructure of its Early Help services and Children’s Centres to save around £3.9m before making any decisions about the future of Bolsover Children’s Centre and others.

It’s cabinet will also decide during a meeting on April 11 whether to give the go-ahead for a public consultation on plans to redesign the way it provides Day Opportunity centres and Short Break units for adults with learning difficulties which could see some services discontinued.

The council has stated that its battle to meet rising costs faced by children’s services, adult social care and education is one of its biggest financial concerns but it is lobbying Government on these issues.

Cllr Lewis has also said the council’s priority is always going to be meeting the needs of the most vulnerable and ensuring its highways which have been subject to complaints about potholes, are safe.

The council has also introduced cost-saving efficiency changes at its nine household waste recycling centres including reduced opening hours, new charges to dispose of tyres and asbestos, and a trial scheme to allow small businesses to pay to use two of the centres.

Other saving proposals include changes to libraries and heritage, and possibly selling and converting the council’s multi-million pound County Hall building, at Matlock, into a hotel, residential space, and a new office site.

Budget savings proposals for 2024-25 include redesigning council elderly residential care homes and day care centres, redesigning council care arrangements for older people, and changing policy for post-16 home to school transport.

Others include reviewing the usage for the council’s County Hall offices and reducing the council’s countryside grounds maintenance budget.

The council has also stated that redundancies cannot be ruled out.

Recent challenges faced by many local authorities have followed the Government’s 2010 austerity policy with reduced funding and restricted spending and the financial strain of the Covid-19 pandemic led to high inflation rates, a cost of living crisis, rising costs and growing demands on services.

Some have also blamed the impact of Brexit on trade arrangements and worldwide conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East as influential factors upon both Government and Local Government finances.

But the council has stated its Council Plan for 2024-25 includes a strategy to work with partners and communities under three key headings including operating as an ‘Enterprising Council’, with ‘Thriving Communities’ and with its ‘Vision Derbyshire’ business support scheme.

It believes this will place the authority in a stronger position to deliver on its ambitions, and adapt and respond to challenges and to bring about changes to ensure success.

A total of 33 objectives have been identified by the council for delivery for the coming year falling into five outlined principles.

These include: Resilient, thriving and green communities which share responsibility for improving their areas and supporting each other; Happy, safe and healthy people, with solid networks of support, who feel in control of their personal circumstances and aspirations; A strong, diverse and clean economy which makes the most of Derbyshire’s rich assets and provides meaningful opportunities for local people to achieve their full potential; Great places to live, work and visit with high performing schools, diverse cultural opportunities, transport connections that keep things moving and a healthy and sustainable environment for all; And High quality public services that work together alongside communities to deliver services that meet people’s needs.

Over the next year the council will refresh this strategy for 2025 to 2029 in line with the new East Midlands County Combined Authority to ensure residents get the best value from the £1.14bn regional investment agreed with Government as part of this devolution deal.

The 2024-25 refreshed Council Plan has considered the financial challenges from huge budget pressures and the high cost of living to issues around climate change and work being done to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Cllr Lewis added: “Rethinking the way we do our planning can be just as important, and as an enterprising council we are always looking to adapt and embrace new ways of thinking, ensuring we continue to deliver value for money for all Derbyshire residents, putting them at the heart of all that we do.”

During the recent Full Council meeting, opposition Labour Leader, Cllr Joan Dixon, said that most councillors are worried about the finances but Cllr Lewis said the situation is improving.

Opposition Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Ed Fordham, also claimed the council’s Service Plans do not reflect that ‘services are being cut to the bone’ and this is a difficult time with deep cuts and reduced services with under-funding from Government.

However, Deputy Council Leader. Cllr Simon Spencer, said: “We do try to have a positive approach in our duty as elected members and nobody is in doubt we face challenging times.”

He added that following the Covid-19 pandemic there have been some positives with changes in how services can be delivered with reduced travelling and new technology and any planned council building sales have been based around becoming more efficient.

Cllr Spencer also stressed the council is concerned and it is looking at all the challenges it faces.