Have your say on Council spending 2011/12

ALL councils are facing a challenging time as the new Coalition Government has given a commitment to reduce public sector spending.

Hartlepool Borough Council has already reduced spending in 2010/11 by £4.2m to balance the budget. Due to cuts in Government grants, the Council will need to make further savings of £1.66m in the current financial year, as well as finding additional savings resulting from the Government's emergency budget, which was recently announced.

The new Government is also examining spending beyond 2011 and will decide this autumn how much grant the Council will get for the next 3 years. This will impact heavily on Council finances as two thirds of Councils spending comes from Government grants and the rest is made up from Council Tax and income. Council Tax will not increase for 2011/12. The Council will need to make savings of £12m over the next three years to compensate for reductions in Government grant. This is in addition to the £6m of efficiency savings already planned by the Council.

Councillor Robbie Payne, the Council's Finance Portfolio holder said: "All councils are expecting to be hit financially and we will face some tough choices in the months and years ahead. But the worst choice would be to fail to put in place a credible plan to deal with this situation. To help us plan we need to understand the priorities of people across the town."

To help plan for the future, we will be talking to many people and organisations over the next few months before our budget for 2011/12 and beyond is agreed. This is your first opportunity to help shape the Council's priorities for spending by telling us what is most important to you.

See the results from this consultation

This consultation has now closed.