Budget Consultation 2023/24 Priorities (Phase 1)
Feedback
We asked
Phase 1 of the 2023/24 budget engagement took place between 6 December 2022 and 8 January 2023.
We asked you for feedback on the Council’s priorities and also what you like about living in Clackmannanshire and what could be improved.
We also asked about the issues that matter the most to you and how we should conduct future consultation and engagement activity.
You said
We asked: What is the best thing about living in Clackmannanshire?
You said: The best things were
- our open and green spaces and parks;
- the quality of schools and education;
- Clackmannanshire people and communities and the good transport links.
Other things you told us you like are affordability of housing, access to supermarkets, roads and the proximity of Clackmannanshire to other major towns and cities.
We asked: What parts could be improved?
You said: Transport links; culture and leisure facilities; quality of schools and education and open and green spaces and parks were the parts you would like to see improved.
Other aspects that could be improved included community safety, tackling anti-social behaviour and parking and enforcement; activities for young people; general appearance and maintenance of the area and local bus services.
We asked: What issues are you most concerned about personally?
You said:
- Cost of living;
- anti-social behaviour;
- education and schools and
- leisure and sport.
These were however closely followed by
- crime and community safety;
- local environment;
- public transport;
- poverty and inequality and
- social care.
We asked: Are these outcomes the right ones?
You said: Most of you (75%) said these outcomes felt right, however were ambitious and many of you wanted to see more detail on how these outcomes would be delivered.
Other suggestions you provided include:
- investment in social and affordable housing to meet families needs;
- making Clackmannanshire a safe and desirable place to live with a focus on community safety and diversionary activities for young people;
- improvement in roads and transport infrastructure including public transport (to access employment and services), active travel and cycle networks;
- improving health and wellbeing through leisure and sports (specifically the new swimming pool/hub) and
- improving education in the broadest sense including school infrastructure, attainment, positive outcomes beyond attainment and adult learning opportunities.
We asked: Are these priority themes the right ones?
You said: Most of you (75%) said these priority themes felt right.
12% of you suggested other priorities which included
- providing services that help vulnerable people who need them most and doing more to raise awareness of these services;
- being more public facing for communities and members of the public;
- investing more in green spaces, parks and play equipment;
- delivering the new swimming pool;
- investing more in education, schools/outcomes for young people and
- supporting more people into, and back into, employment.
We asked: Regarding future consultation, what is your preferred way for engaging with the Council?
You said: Most of you (86%) stated a preference for online consultation/surveys followed by social media (52.1%) and public meetings (43%).
Other suggestions include using the Alloa Advertiser, putting information out with Council Tax bills, and making use of ‘you said we did’ functionality.
We did
The Council is undertaking a 4-phase programme of engagement to shape its budget decisions for the next 5 years.
Phase 2 took place from 25 January 2023.
Overview
Local authorities have faced a challenging financial context for over ten years. Since 2013/14 the Council has approved savings of £45 million.
Clackmannanshire Council, like all Councils, faces further rising costs, reducing budgets and increased demand for services. Just like your household budget, the Council is experiencing soaring inflation and rapidly rising energy, goods and services costs. For example, in March 2022 we had to budget an additional £877,000 for our annual gas and electricity, and costs like these continue to rise.
The settlement from Scottish Government is not anticipated to be what we will need to keep pace with inflationary pressures, and we have limited ability to raise additional income in ways that will allow us to maintain all our current models and levels of service. For instance, each 1% increase in Council Tax raises about an additional £240,000 per year. To put this in context, the monthly instalments we make for our three academies is around £800,000.
The consequence of continuing financial pressures is that we are facing a significant budget gap in the next 5 years.
The Council needs to prioritise services and budgets more than ever while continuing with transformation plans. Even where we are required in law to provide services, it is likely that the level of provision will need to be reassessed or models of delivery will look different.
Despite these challenges, through the Council’s Be The Future programme, transforming our local economy and tackling poverty and inequality are driving long term sustainable change, ensuring financial sustainability.
The Council is undertaking a 4-phase programme of engagement to shape its budget decisions for the next 5 years.
- Phase 1: Checking with you that our priorities remain the right ones for the next 5 years or whether they need to be refined - December 2022;
- Phase 2: In line with those priorities, engage on the changes to services for 2023/24 – Winter 2022/23;
- Phase 3: Budget setting - Spring 2023;
- Phase 4: Annual engagement on the impact of budget proposals – Autumn/Winter of each year.
Why your views matter
At Phase 1 we would like to find out which services local people value most, those that they feel contribute to making Clackmannanshire a great place to live, learn, work and visit.
With the anticipated budget constraints in the years ahead, the Council also wants to work with communities and partners to prioritise the services that make a real difference to local people and their families.
To help guide our decisions we are looking for your feedback on what is most important to you and your community.
This information will help to inform decisions that the Council takes over the coming years on its priorities and services.
The consultation should only take around 5-10 minutes of your time.
What happens next
We will publish a summary of the results at the end of the consultation via this page.
Areas
- All Areas
Audiences
- Anyone from any background
Interests
- Budget
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