Title

FINANCE

Senior Nottingham councillors refuse to back budget cuts

Senior members of cash-strapped Nottingham City Council have refused to recommend a report that proposed £20m in budget cuts.

Senior members of cash-strapped Nottingham City Council have refused to recommend a report that proposed £20m in budget cuts.

Council leader David Mellen said the majority Labour administration had decided there was ‘little to recommend' in a report that proposed cuts to library provision, the number of community protection officers and grants to the voluntary sector.

Officers had put forward the proposals in a bid to fill a £60m budget gap forecast for 2024-25 after being instructed by a Government-appointed improvement and assurance board to bring forward all savings they considered possible.

Cllr Mellen said this directive - a condition of receiving exceptional financial support - created what felt like a ‘no-win' situation for councillors.

However, he said the Labour group would ‘seriously consider' the council's duty to agree a balanced budget at a meeting next month.

In November, Nottingham issued a section 114 notice due to its inability to deliver a balanced budget for the 2023-24 financial year.

FINANCE

Cumberland using EFS to fund redundancies

By William Eichler | 21 August 2026

Cumberland Council is using £11.83m of rescheduled exceptional financial support (EFS) to fund a voluntary redundancy programme expected to cut between 300 a...

FINANCE

Putting dynamism into devolution: defining the challenge

By Mike Emmerich | 20 August 2026

The prize from devolution is not stronger strategic authorities for their own sake, but places capable of delivering sustainable economic growth and more nim...

FINANCE

28 years later - lessons from Herefordshire's unitary journey

By Cllr Roger Phillips | 19 August 2026

Reflecting on Herefordshire Council’s reorganisation 28 years ago, leader Cllr Jonathan Lester and chairman Cllr Roger Phillips say experience suggests struc...

FINANCE

Nobody ever voted for a map

By Ben Page | 17 August 2026

Rewiring the State offers the most significant shift in local government for a generation, but there is still a lot that has been left unwritten, says Ben Page.

Popular articles by Ellie Ames