NCC Draft Budget and Council Plan for 2017/18 – Northamptonshire County Council would like to hear from as many people as possible

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Today, Northamptonshire County Council has started a six week period of consultation around our Draft Budget and Council Plan for 2017-18.  As part of the consultation process, we would like to hear from as many people as possible during the consultation period. The consultation closes on Tuesday 24thJanuary 2017, with the results, and outcomes of the consultation period to be discussed at a Full Council meeting on Thursday 23rd February 2017.

As with the 2016-17 Draft Budget Consultation, this will again be a challenging budget. At a time of rapidly increasing demand for county council services, and reduced income from central government, the county council will need to make further tough choices. At this point in time, though, it is important to stress that none of the Draft Budget proposals are set in stone. As such, we really would value hearing the views and opinions of anyone with an interest in these proposals.

Interested consultees will be able to submit consultation feedback through a variety of different channels. Consultees can:

  • Visit the Draft Budget and Council Plan Consultation webpage, and/or complete an online survey: www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/draftbudget
  • See a more detailed overview of this consultation on the county council’s central Consultation Register, and channels for sending consultation responses at:

www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Council/consultations/Pages/register.aspx

  • Email consultation feedback directly to: consult@northamptonshire.gov.uk
  • Send written consultation feedback to: Draft Budget and Council Plan Consultation, Northamptonshire County Council, County Hall, Northampton, NN1 1DN.
  • Use social media: Tweet @mycountycouncil or post comments on the county council’s Facebook page.
  • Use the Draft Budget toolkit (available on the Draft Budget webpage) to hold their own discussions, which can then be emailed or posted back to us. This may be particularly useful for Customer and service user groups, who can hold their own discussions and focus on the issues that are most important to them.
  • Sign or submit a petition or e-petition

 

In addition to these channels of consultation, local people and organisations are invited to take part in Budget Scrutiny meetings. Scrutiny involves councillors reviewing the draft budget proposals, looking at their aims and how delivering these may affect Council services. Members of the public and representatives of community groups can contribute to budget scrutiny by giving councillors their views about which proposals they should scrutinise, and about how particular budget proposals may affect services.

There will be an opportunity for members of the public to give their views about which budget proposals councillors should select for scrutiny, at a meeting of the Council’s Budget Scrutiny Working Group on Monday 19th December 2016 at12.15pm in the Council Chamber at County Hall.  After this, further meetings are scheduled for early January 2016 to scrutinise selected budget proposals relating to the following council service areas:

  • Tuesday 3rd January at 12.00am in the Blue Room at County Hall, Northampton – this meeting will focus on environment, planning and transport
  • Wednesday 4th January at 4.00pm in the Blue Room – this meeting will focus on children, families and education services
  • Thursday 5th January at 12.00pm in the Blue Room – this meeting will focus on adult social care services
  • Friday 6th January at 12.00pm in the Blue Room – this meeting will focus on adults’ and children’s  health and wellbeing matters

Members of the public or organisations are welcome to speak at any of these meetings. People wishing to speak are asked to give advance notice to assist with managing the meetings: please email 48 hours in advance of the particular meeting that you wish to attend giving your name and address and the point you wish to raise.

If you would like to attend and speak at any of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group meetings listed above, or if you want any further information about the budget scrutiny process, please email: Democraticsupport@northamptonshire.gov.uk

We very much hope to hear from you as part of the consultation process.