Epsom & Ewell Borough Council is looking ahead to 2024/25 and beyond to ensure that it remains a financially sustainable council.

Like many councils across the country, the council faces the challenge of reductions in central government funding of local government since 2010, in combination with continued rising costs. As the budgeting process for 2024/25 commences as well as future planning, officers and Councillors are working together to identify savings, efficiencies and income generation options that will enable the council to balance its budget and continue to provide an extensive and stable range of services for its residents.

In a report coming to the forthcoming Strategy & Resources Committee, the council sets out a plan to address the forecast £1.1m annual shortfall for 2024/25, and to develop its new four-year Medium Term Financial Strategy, both of which will aim to maintain the financial health of the council while delivering on local priorities. The detail of the measures that will be put in place to address the funding shortfall are currently being developed and will be published in the new year.

Cllr Neil Dallen, Chair of the Strategy & Resources Committee, said: “The future financial sustainability of the council is critical and taken extremely seriously by the council administration. We have a strong track record of meeting the considerable financial challenges the past decade has brought for local government, and we are confident that putting in place these measures alongside planning for next financial year and beyond will allow us to balance our budgets, while maintaining the wide range of services and support we offer to our residents.”