Devil will be in detail of Budget says County Council

THE devil will be in the detail but Cambridgeshire County Council is well set to work with the implications of today’s Budget.

That was the message from Cambridgeshire County Councillor, John Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance.

He said: Cambridgeshire County Council is respected nationally for the way it manages its finances. There is no doubt that this is a tough budget and that we will not know the full implications to Cambridgeshire and the communities we serve until the national spending review in the Autumn.

“However, we did foresee that large savings were going to have to come out of public services funding to help pay back the national deficit. That’s why last year we announced that we would be transforming the way we carry out services to achieve a 35 per cent saving in our budget over the next five years – equating to around �80 million.

“We have previously frozen the pay for employees whose salaries we do set and are looking at innovative ways to work with other councils and organisations to deliver services. Our main aim is to deliver services tailored for our communities within the budgets available.

“It will be one of the biggest challenges we face but we started planning for this last year and are in a really good position to manage the transformation.

“However, until the Comprehensive Spending Review is completed in October and grant notification received in late November, our detailed plans and budget cannot be changed.”

On Council Tax he said “the devil here is in the detail and the chancellor has indicated he will help authorities freeze council tax levels if we can keep costs low. We are in a good place to benefit from this offer.”