Council survey to help shape budget plans

The council's survey is asking residents to help identify spending priorities

Residents and businesses across Devon's Teignbridge area have been asked take part in the local council’s annual budget survey to help shape next year's budget.

Teignbridge District Council said councils were required by law to provide certain services, such as bin collections, but others services, including leisure centres and community transport, were optional.

The survey would ask residents to help identify spending priorities by asking what services were most important to them and what they thought was the best way to tackle budget deficits, it said.

The survey can be accessed from Wednesday through the council’s website until Friday 2 February.

Feedback from the survey would be reported to councillors before they made any budget decisions for the next financial year, the council said.

Due to funding not keeping pace with inflation, councillors would have to make "difficult" choices on how money should be allocated across services that the council was not required by law to provide, it added.

Council deputy leader Richard Keeling said: “The more people who take part and share their views, the better able we will be to shape a budget that meets our statutory duties and continues to prioritise the services that businesses and people most value.”