Council forecasts £2.4m deficit by April

The Peterborough First group cabinet will present its draft budget proposal to the full city council in January

A city council has forecast it will be more than £2m in debt by the end of the financial year.

Peterborough City Council cabinet leader Mohammed Farooq, from the Peterborough First group, said it would be a difficult process to set a balanced budget.

All English councils are required by law to do so, but most are facing increased pressures due to high levels of inflation and the increasing complexity of need in adult and children's social care services.

The cabinet has begun its budget-setting process and will present its first draft proposal in January.

The council will need the support of other parties to pass its budget

A report to the cabinet said the estimated £2.4m deficit is shared between £1.9m for the city council, £338,000 for Cambridgeshire Police, £99,000 for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue and £15,000 for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. 

Peterborough First, a group of 11 independent councillors, will have to rely on the support of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens to pass their budget, as they did when they ousted the former Conservative administration in November.

They will need to find savings, such as through the council's ongoing review of its assets, which could result in the sales of some community buildings.

It is unlikely to get the support of the Conservative group, whose leader Wayne Fitzgerald recently told a full council meeting his group did not recognise the legitimacy of the new administration.