Every year we agree a budget, which sets out its financial position and spending plans for the financial year ahead. (The ‘financial year’ is not the same as a calendar year; it runs from 1 April - 31 March.)
The annual budget is the detailed part of a longer financial plan that the borough council has to manage its finances over a five-year period. A five-year plan helps us to plan ahead but an annual budget means it can respond quickly to changes, for example new Government policies.
As the cost of providing services has gone up in recent years, it has become harder to deliver everything we would like to within our income.
The Government acknowledged this when it said it is: “… under no illusion about the scale of the issues facing local government ...” and it says that it wants to improve the way councils are funded.
Since the autumn, we have done a huge amount of work to identify possible savings and efficiencies that do not impact front-line services. As a result, it is proposing a ‘balanced’ budget, which means it can deliver services without the need to dip into its reserves in 2025/26.
To help us make sure it is taking into account what is important to communities in West Norfolk when making these decisions, we ran a budget survey at the end of 2024 where 1,093 people took part.
It asked people to say whether they thought services were one of the following:
- Very important
- Quite important
- Neither important nor unimportant
- Not very important
- Not at all important
The table shows people’s priorities – the number next to each service is the total percentage of people who said a service was ‘very’ or ‘quite’ important.
| Service | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Waste collection and recycling collection | 99.7% |
| Tackling anti-social behaviour and crime | 93.5% |
| Managing coastal change and flood risk | 92.9% |
| Supporting people who need daily help in their lives | 92.7% |
| Helping to grow jobs, businesses and the local economy | 88.7% |
| Street cleaning | 86.4% |
| Access to play areas, parks and green open spaces | 84.4% |
| Having enough good-quality homes for local needs | 82.1% |
| Improving town centres and facilities | 78.4% |
| Maintaining local culture, heritage and free events | 73.2% |
| Support and grants for community groups and charities | 70.0% |
| Action on climate change | 66.8% |
| Promoting tourism and local jobs | 61.9% |
| Better options for walking and cycling | 59.4% |
| Access to quality sports facilities | 58.2% |
More than half the people who responded would be prepared for us to put up council tax more than the rules currently allow:
| Amount of council tax | Percentage |
|---|---|
| I would put up council tax £5 per year | 486 (47.6%) |
| I would put up council tax £10 per year | 325 (31.8%) |
| I would put up council tax £15 per year | 210 (20.6%) |
And more than half of respondents said we should put up fees and charges in line with inflation:
| Amount of council tax | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Put fees up by less than inflation | 348 (33.6%) |
| Put fees up by about the same as inflation | 568 (54.8%) |
| Put fees up more than inflation | 121 (11.7%) |
Respondents also told us:
- The council should focus on the basics and make sure the council is run efficiently.
- The council should encourage businesses, especially in the town centres, and economic growth.
- They don’t like paying for parking.
- They had mixed views about public transport and walking/cycle routes – some people felt it was really important, others thought it wasn’t a good use of money in a rural area.
- Visitors and people who contribute less (e.g. second home owners) could pay more.
We also met with businesses and community groups to find out their views.
All the comments people made were read and the information that this work gave us is now being used by us to help make plans for services in future.
Key dates
Below are the key dates for the annual budget.
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Budget proposals published | 21 January 2025 |
| Budget discussed by borough council’s Cabinet | 4 February 2025 |
| Budget goes to Full Council for approval | 27 February 2025 |
You can find out more by reading the detailed budget proposals below.