Cheshire West and Chester Council facing £90m funding gap

The budget will go before full council on 16 February

Cheshire West and Chester Council will fight to plug a financial deficit of more than £90m over the next two years - partly by raising council tax.

The authority has set out proposals for its 2023/24 budget, which includes a 4.99% hike in the bill.

The council said it would need to make savings of £49.3m over the next two years, with £25.4m in the 2023/24 year.

Leader Louise Gittins said it was the most challenging financial climate the council had ever seen.

Councils were given the power to increase council tax without a local vote in the Autumn Statement and neighbouring Cheshire East Council also announced the same rise.

Other planned ways to save cash will include charging for replacement recycling bins and boxes and charging for the additional cost of street cleaning after events.

The budget also includes proposals for several reviews, although full details are not given, including for areas such as parking charges, museums and public toilets.

'Invest to save'

There are also proposals to "review and reimagine" library services.

Winter maintenance services and street lighting will also be looked at.

The council also said it would focus on an "invest to save" strategy, which it said would reduce demand on statutory services in the future and be focused on specific areas such as children's social care.

This would include reducing costs on supporting children in care.

The council said the number of children and young people in looked-after care was 581 in December, up from 539 in April.

There were also 35 placements costing more than £5,000 a week in November 2022, up from 17 in 2021/22.

It said it plans to invest in increasing local in-house residential provision, using foster carers to support young people who would have otherwise been in residential care and reviewing options for emergency placements within the area.

The budget will be discussed at a meeting on 30 January before going to full council on 16 February.

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