Caerphilly county borough council has reported that the authority has made significant savings thanks to careful budget planning during these tough economic times.
At a meeting of Cabinet this week, a report was presented to councillors outlining the provisional Revenue Outturn for the authority for the financial year 2010/11. The report provides an overview of the council’s financial performance and identifies £6million of planned savings against the budget for the year.
Savings have been identified across a range of service areas and the money can now be spent making improvements within the local community. One such example is £388,000 in savings from the maintenance of the Sirhowy Enterprise Way contract, which can now be spent on resurfacing and highway improvement works across the whole county borough.
Cllr Colin Mann, CCBC deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, welcomed the report, “Our overall budget picture shows we are in a healthy financial position and this clearly highlights that our financial strategy is proving to be very effective. The public sector is facing difficult times at the moment and many local authorities are facing tough decisions about their future, but we in Caerphilly are leading the way and bucking the trend thanks to our robust planning and effective budget management.”
Money has also been identified from the savings to support a number of prestigious events planned for the area over the coming months. Caerphilly has been successful in its bid to stage major national events including the BBC ‘Proms in the Park’ and the ‘Tour of Britain’ cycle race. These, in addition to a new ‘Pride in your Place’ community awards scheme, require a one-off spend of £70,000 to ensure that the council is able to support these key events.
The cabinet also considered a report outlining plans to invest £377,000 from reserves in a range of environmental improvement projects. The money will be used to purchase new street sweeping and litter collecting equipment, gum removal machines and improved CCTV at recycling sites. Investment will also be made in planting schemes, health improvement, countryside promotion, and other environmental enhancements.
“We have identified over three quarters of a million pounds that will directly benefit our communities and we now look forward to seeing these schemes come to fruition in the near future,” added Cllr Mann.
Another £1.7m of the planned savings have been set aside for the council’s ambitious 21st century schools programme.
Cabinet decisions are subject to a seven-day ‘calling in’ period, which ends at 5pm on Monday 11th July.
