Wiltshire Council agrees on next financial year budget

Wiltshire Council has announced today it has agreed a budget for the next financial year.

The council which has been a unitary authority for four years finalised next year's budget outlining some of the key areas to focus on. 

Council Leader Jane Scott said: "At a time when other local authorities are making cuts, we plan to invest and improve our services and increase our support for local communities, despite a continued decreased in public sector funding."

Wiltshire Council has discussed ways to manage and work with the funding cuts from central government and an increasing demand in frontline services. 

Three years ago the council outline a business plan which included to: invest in key frontline services, protect the most vulnerable in Wiltshire communities and to save money to enable to achieve the plan. 

For the next financial year, Wiltshire Council announced it will continue with a programme of investment, investing more than £17 million from the revenue budget to support key frontline services and £143.6 million into capital schemes. 

"It is vital we continue to protect our frontline services and those who are most vulnerable in our communities and that we support economic growth to create and protect jobs through investment in infrastructure and support for local businesses and inward investment," Jane Scott added.

Around £362,000 was secured in Government grant funding following the publication of the business plan. Leaders of Wiltshire Council all agreed £162,000 will be distributed between area boards in the county to focus on children and young people's initiatives and other projects along with £200,000 being used to improve schools to help raise the standard of education. 

The final financial plan can be found here. 

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