Budget 2024/25
The council's budget for 2024/25 was approved by Full Council on Monday 26 February 2024.
Each year we have to prepare our budget and decide how much should be spent on the services we provide to the community.
Find how the budget is considered, where the council's income comes from, what we will be doing in response to the public consultation and how we plan to be spending your money in the coming year.
Budget summary
The budget lays out how much we plan to spend on each of our main services (net of fees and charges). We collect some of this money through Council Tax, but we have other sources of income including that from Localised Business Rates Retention (BRR), New Homes Bonus (NHB), Rural Services Delivery Grant (RSDG) and from investments.
We are required to set a balanced budget before the start of each financial year.
To do this we prepare detailed budget reports to enable the annual budgets for the General Fund and council tax, Housing Revenue Account (HRA), and the capital programme to be set.
Supporting strategies
As part of the budget setting process we publish number of supporting strategies each year. These include the:
Council Tax
Although we collect Council Tax from you the money doesn't just pay for our services. The majority of it goes to pay for the services provided by:
- Essex County Council
- the Police
- Essex Fire and Rescue
- town and parish councils
How we calculated the Council Tax for 2024/25.
Uttlesford District Council keeps just under 8 pence in every pound of your Council Tax.
How the budget was considered
The budget proposals were considered at 3 meetings.
- Review of budget proposals at Scrutiny Committee on 13 February 2024
- Finalisation of budget proposals at Cabinet on 20 February 2024
- Approval of final budget at Full Council on 26 February 2024
Budget consultation
Every year we ask for feedback in the form of a public survey on what our spending priorities should be. The results of this consultation help us to decide on the priorities for the budget for April 2024 to March 2025.
The budget consultation was undertaken between 25 September and 5 November 2023. Read the Council spending - have your say consultation report on setting the 2024/25 budget.
Funding the budget
For 2024/25 the total cost of providing council services is budgeted at £18.4 million. This is the net cost after taking into account the income we get from fees that we charge for services such as planning, licensing, and car parks.
This is what we're planning to spend on services this year.
Communities and Local Partnerships: £1,299,000
This includes community hubs, emergency planning, grants, community safety and Saffron Walden Museum.
Environment and Climate Change: £4,094,000
This includes animal welfare, grounds maintenance, climate change, street cleansing, waste management and street services.
Finance and the Economy: £1,375,000
This includes car parks, economic development, financial services and Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
Housing and Equalities: £260,000
This includes homelessness and housing strategy.
Planning: £1,914,000
This includes building control, development management, planning policy (Local Plan) and planning specialists.
Strategy and Governance: £3,741,000
This includes committee administration, conducting elections, electoral registration, internal audit, legal services and communications.
Corporate Services: £5,682,000
This includes asset management, benefits administration, customer services, Land Charges, offices, Council Tax collection and support.