Despite the significant financial pressures on council funding, Nottinghamshire County Council passed a budget last week for 2024/25 that balances the books for the next two years.
Our budget increases funding and support for residents most in need, with an additional £47 million of investment into Early Help and prevention in the most disadvantaged communities.
In Mansfield it funds things like a new Youth Centre for the Bellamy Estate and increases the investment into Family Hub’s, extending children's services and support for families and young people.
We’re investing more into our schools too, with an additional £50 million to add a further 300 new SEND places and commence improvement works to school buildings around the county.
For Mansfield, this investment will deliver a brand-new SEND school in Ravensdale, which is on top of Government investment that will see four of our schools rebuilt through various central funds – Yeoman Park SEND School, Garibaldi, Meden and All Saints.
We’re also investing an additional £4 million into Nottinghamshire’s highways, on top of the £27 million of Government capital funding for our roads.
This additional funding will deliver a programme of major new resurfacing projects on roads like the A617 to the East of our town, the A60 by West Notts College, and Diamond Avenue in Kirkby – to name a few.
These roads are all in addition to our summer capital improvement programme, which will be announced in a few weeks time, in total an investment of over £60 million in capital funding into transport across the county.
We’re also continuing to invest in leisure and skills, with improvements to the Mill Adventure Base at King’s Mill. This is a £2 million investment which will deliver curriculum-linked outdoor learning opportunities for young people.
Nottinghamshire County Council is also boosting funding into the emergency flood response budget, by 50% for the next financial year. After the chaos caused by numerous storms during the winter months last year, it’s imperative we can meet the challenge this brings for our communities and bolster flood defences.
We’re planning for the long term, continuing to deliver our core services despite the budget pressures, continuing to invest in our community-based services like our libraries, children’s centres, and youth centres, and we’re continuing to improve the value for money we offer local people.
All in, Nottinghamshire County Council is recognised as one of Britain’s most stable and best run Councils, we’re increasing funding for front-line services and we’re planning for the long-term with a balanced budget for the next two years.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to look far to see the right mess Labour-led councils have got themselves in through failed pet projects like Robin Hood Energy in the City just as one example.
It will always be residents that ultimately pay the price for poor decisions taken by local authorities. That’s why I’m proud of the budget we delivered last week, and the work Nottinghamshire County Council continues to do to support vulnerable residents and invest in local services.
