Bracknell Forest Council overspend may lead to 'difficult choices'

Extra pressure on housing and a lack of income have been cited as potential causes for the overspend

A council has said its predicted overspend this year could mean civic chiefs having to make "difficult choices".

Bracknell Forest Council is expecting to spend up to £4m more than it had budgeted.

Stuart McKellar, the authority's deputy chief executive, revealed the details at a meeting of the council's Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

He cited pressures on housing and a lack of income as potential causes.

Mr McKellar said the council was in a "very difficult position," adding that the prediction was "the biggest potential overspend that this council has faced, so it's a really, really unusual and challenging position".

He also told councillors that some of the biggest areas of concern were in social services and housing, due to more people living in council-funded homelessness accommodation.

On top of that, the council's income from sources such as payments by developers as part of planning agreements had fallen.

Mr McKellar said he was getting weekly updates from areas under the highest pressure and would be looking at the budgets of every department to try and tackle the overspend.

He added that, while the council was "not anywhere near" bankruptcy, "there may well be some quite difficult choices to make."

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