Crawley Borough Council has had to use more than £1m of reserves to balance its budget for 2024/25. The £1.06m was less than forecast thanks to an extra £137,031 received from the government as part of its financial settlement for the year. Leader Michael Jones called the budget ‘solid’ and pointed out that the council currently receives £8.9m less from the government in real terms than it did in 2010, with its spending power dropping by 69 per cent.
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00:00 I'm very pleased that this evening the Crawley Borough Council passed its budget for the forthcoming financial year.
00:07 It's good news for residents because we've been able to safeguard services for another year, despite the very challenging circumstances that local government is facing.
00:16 Crawley Borough Council, just to reassure residents, is still in reasonable financial shape. We do have temporary accommodation pressures which are significant and we were discussing tonight.
00:34 However, I remain confident that with the measures that we've put in place in this budget, that we will continue to be running the council prudently and effectively.
00:46 It doesn't mean with the continuing squeeze on public finances by the national government that we won't have to look at what we need to do to keep going in the future.
00:55 Every council has to set a balanced budget and we will certainly do that.
01:00 It might mean there are hard choices in the future, but the positive thing is that for now at least, and for this year, we will be able to continue to provide the great services that people rely and value from us.