Peterborough City Council to urge public to shape services as it battles £24 million budget gap

Peterborough City Council is to enlist the help of residents as it battles to cope with a potential £24.3 million budget gap.

Officials are to launch a six-week-long public consultation that will allow residents to voice their priorities and help to shape services as councillors seek to cut some spending commitments.

Plans for the consultation, called Shaping our City, are contained in minutes set to go before tomorrow’s (September 17) Cabinet.

They show that council finance chiefs are predicting a budget gap for the next financial year, 2024/25 that will range between £13.3 million and £24.3 million.

If approved the consultation will take place between September 18 and October 27 with a series of sessions across the city and with council representatives attending community and partner meetings.

The minutes to the meeting state that the budget gap ‘means that the council needs to be more precise about how it spends its limited budget and be really clear with staff and residents on where our focus will be placed over the next three years.’

"This also must be achievable, so that we can deliver what we are aiming to. (Our priorities must be in the right areas and must be affordable).”

The council has also produced a draft Corporate Strategy for 2024 to 2027 to outline which priorities the local authority feels should be the focus.

It states: “Our core priorities for the next three years are: Economy and Inclusive Growth, Creating a Sustainable Future, Prevention, Independence and Resilience and Children and Young People.”

It adds: “It is essential that we continue to find ways to transform our services and deliver savings wherever possible.

"Our workforce is integral in this transformation process, and it is important that all our stakeholders understand and accept that we cannot continue to provide everything we have provided in the past.

"As reflected in our values, we are committed to being bold and innovative, we respect our people and communities, and we keep our promises.

"In fact, we will be as bold to say that due to our funding pressures, we cannot deliver everything we used to.”