Lancaster City Council to work alongside University in budget cut conversations

Lancaster City Council will be working alongside Lancaster University and other corporations to formulate a plan for impending budget reductions.

The council has reached out to locals in a bid to create “public talks” to discuss budget pressures and how to “best use” the city’s “finances, people, buildings and other assets”, reports LancsLive.

Leading city councillors have begun planning for next year’s budget as they warn that the Council will also be facing monetary pressures, due to government funding and higher costs.

However, Lancaster Council wants to avoid cutting money from certain budgets, and instead want to create partnerships with city businesses and residents to help them perform in an “ambitious, ingenious and focused” manner. They are asking for “staff, residents, community groups, businesses, technology, health and education sectors” to join them in discussions.

Two of the council’s cabinet counsellors told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that they want their budgeting decisions to reflect city priorities and “public values”, but that they are also focused on making necessary changes. Their want for public input stems from the fact that they’d like people to know the “circumstances, threats and opportunities”.

Cabinet members have addressed factors such as “long-term cuts and rising costs”, the council “suffering like households”, “income and costs”, “recession risks and changes at Heysham nuclear power station”, and creating “good connections, locally and nationally”.

More information on what the counsellors have to say on these matters can be found here.

The City Council will be hosting these discussions this autumn.

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