Nottinghamshire school dinners set to rise by 40p a meal

The county council blamed rising costs for the planned price increases

School dinners in Nottinghamshire are set to rise by 40p a meal, the county council has said.

The daily price the authority charges schools for meals is set to increase from £2.55 to £2.95.

It will be down to individual schools to determine whether to pass the cost increase.

Conservative-run Nottinghamshire County Council said it has been forced to make the price hike due to rising costs of food, energy and staffing.

Children who qualify for free school meals will not be affected.

The council's Labour group and Independent Alliance attempted to 'call in' the decision last month - meaning it would be subject to further debate - claiming there had been "errors" with the decision-making process.

However, both challenges have failed, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Opposition councillors said Nottingham City Council offer cheaper school meals

Opposition groups said there hadn't been enough advance notice of the rise and that it had been planned without a consultation,

In a letter seen by the BBC, opposition councillors said both Nottingham and Leicester city councils provide meals at £2.50 and £2.30 respectively.

Independent councillor Francis Purdue-Horan, said: "We are obviously disappointed that the call in to re-examine options has been rejected.

"This increase should have been properly looked at again to see how we could better help residents."

A letter will be sent to schools confirming the date of the price rises.

'Rising cost'

Nottinghamshire County Council's cabinet member for communities, councillor John Cottee, said the decision-making and scrutiny processes were "followed entirely correctly".

"We gave very careful consideration to this matter before reaching a decision," Mr Cottee said.

"But in light of the recent spike in inflation it was necessary to balance the rising cost of making and delivering a school meal against our absolute commitment to ensuring that Nottinghamshire children continue to receive a high-quality, nutritious school meal product.

"Even after this price change is implemented, the cost of school meals in Nottinghamshire will still compare favourably with other areas, and the council continues to subsidise the overall cost of providing these meals to keep the price as low as we realistically can."