“Empowering Communities: Southend-on-Sea City Council’s Vision for Frontline Services and Civic Pride”

Cabinet members will review the document that includes a council tax hike of 4.99% (2.99% for general use and 2% for adult social services) in the upcoming week (Cabinet, 13 January, items 5 to 7). This will assist in financing the required investments into frontline and mandatory services and ensure that cost pressures can be addressed in 2025/26.

It is also suggested that several new and ongoing initiatives will receive funding from the council’s capital investment scheme. Continuous efforts to enhance civic pride will see an allocation of £185,000 and guarantee that City Jam takes place in 2025 and subsequent years, along with an annual Southend City Day and the promotion of volunteering opportunities throughout the community. To benefit residents, businesses, and tourists, the general events budget will also be raised by £100,000.

An additional £250,000 is being added to the road maintenance revenue budget to tackle more potholes, alongside doubling the capital investment in repairing roads and pavements. Seven new positions will also be established through investment into services, including four staff members dedicated to assisting with the brokerage and management of children’s external care placements to achieve savings in this area.

Roughly £9m of ongoing investment will ensure that service budgets, which have faced heightened demand and strain in recent years, such as children’s and adult social care as well as temporary accommodation, more accurately reflect the actual expenses and spending in those areas going forward. New savings and increased revenue proposed total £3.6m, amounting to £5.3m when combined with previously agreed savings for 2025/26. In conjunction with the increased revenue from council tax and business rates, a balanced net base budget of £165m is put forward.

Cllr Daniel Cowan, leader of the council, states: “I am delighted that through diligent efforts and having a clear vision and priorities, we can present a budget that sees substantial investment into our frontline and essential services, along with other significant projects and concerns.”

“We must make sure that we continue to deliver quality services to local residents and promote our city as an excellent place to live, visit, and invest in, and this budget accomplishes exactly that.”

“Even though the financial context remains challenging, with the demand for statutory services like adult and children’s social care and temporary accommodation continuing to grow, we are safeguarding these frontline services by being realistic about our required expenditures in these sectors and adjusting our budget accordingly. We are also taking steps to alleviate these pressures in the long term.”

“We understand that numerous residents and businesses are still feeling the financial strain as well, and while we would prefer not to increase council tax and other fees, it is necessary to do so to protect services, advance our city, and maintain financial sustainability in the future. With the proposed increase, we anticipate remaining with the second-lowest council tax rates in Essex, the thirteenth lowest among 62 English unitary councils, and within the lowest 100 out of all 317 English councils.”

The council will persist in making savings in subsequent years as well and transform its operations to address an estimated budget deficit of £32.5m up to 2029/30, down from last year’s estimation of £35m. A separate cabinet report (item 4) examining finances until the end of November 2024 highlights how the projected overspend has decreased from £8.1m at the end of July to £4.7m at the end of November.

Cllr Cowan concludes: “We have been diligently working to reduce our anticipated overspend this year. This has reduced to £4.7m by the end of November 2024, and we will continue our efforts to lower this number further and minimize the necessity of utilizing reserves to balance the budget at the end of this fiscal year.”

“Together with our proposed capital investment, this is a constructive budget that directs over £25m into rectifying our budget so it accounts for recognized pressures and supports our services both now and in the future, as we aim to build a city that everyone can take pride in.”

The draft budget will be evaluated by the council’s cabinet on Monday 13 January and the council’s Policy and Resources scrutiny committee on Thursday 30 January. Any modifications to the draft budget will subsequently be reviewed by cabinet on Tuesday 11 February, with the final budget to be debated and ratified at a full council meeting on Thursday 20 February.