Nottingham City Council's Executive Board met in December to consider the proposals for the Council's 2010/11 Budget.

Click here to view the budget proposals and give us your comments.

The continuing global recession has seen substantial fresh pressures on council finances, including a fall of over £1m in City Council income from property, car parks and planning. At the same time there are new pressures on the City Council's budget including:

• The costs for protecting vulnerable children – which are increasing – with over £3m of additional expenditure likely to be invested
• The costs for caring for older people and people with disabilities – which are increasing – with over £1m additional expenditure anticipated.

The budget proposals under consideration include an increase in investment of around £8m compared to the current financial year to cover these and other priorities. Proposed actions to invest more in vulnerable children include:

• £2.8 million for Children in Care
• £259,000 for Special Guardianship orders
• £161,000 for Children in need.

Proposed actions to invest more in services for older people and people with disabilities include:

· £450,000 for care packages and minor adaptations

· £100,000 for increased Telecare demand

Investments in other areas include £876,000 for reducing carbon emissions and £230,000 towards providing more free school meals.

The proposals also include putting substantial amounts of money into job creation and into the creation of apprenticeships for young people by using over £30m of Working Neighbourhoods funding from both 2009/10 and 2010/11.

The City Council has also been working hard to minimise the impact on front-line services as much as possible by delivering efficiencies of around £14m from better, more integrated ways of working.

Councillor Graham Chapman, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources, Economic Development and Reputation, said: "The year 2010/11 will be the toughest year that Nottingham City Council has ever had to set a budget for. And it's not just us, it will be the same for every local authority in the UK. We are trying to pull off a very delicate balancing act of increasing investments in services at a time when our own income is down and the whole UK and global economy is in a recession."

Giving us your feedback and comments

The Council's 2010/11 budget proposals are open to public consultation until Sunday 31 January 2010. The results of the public consultation will be considered by the Executive Board in February 2010, and the Board will make recommendations which will then be considered by Full Council in March 2010. A decision will be made on the 2010/11 Budget proposals at this Council meeting and the final 2010/11 Budget will be agreed.

 Click here to download the 2010/11 Budget Proposals [278kb] (PDF)

 Click here to download the 2010/11 Budget Proposals [2Mb] (Word)

If you are a Nottingham City citizen and would like to comment on these budget proposals please fill in the form below before Sunday 31 January 2010.