THE COUNTY council has warned residents to expect budget cuts and council tax rises next year - but remains 'very, very ambitious' with its capital spending plan despite financial difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Budget cuts coupled with council-tax rises – often above inflation and certainly above average wage increases – have been implemented for 10 years and residents have been warned of further changes.

Council leader Glen Sanderson added: “This has been an exceptionally difficult year for all us, our families and our businesses, and in a sense, the council is a business in that it relies on income.

“We have had a tough year in terms of much less money coming in in certain areas and much more expenditure in others."

Coun. Nick Oliver, the cabinet member for corporate services and county councillor for Corbridge, reiterated a point made in previous years that council spending has remained static or even risen slightly over that period, even if Government grants have decreased, but increasing demand means that the authority has to deliver services more efficiently.

He continued: “We are determined as an administration to keep council-tax rises to a minimum. We’re expecting our rises to be smaller than most.

“We need to be building our economy to bring in more money through the likes of business rates. We need to focus on things that in the long-term are going to generate plenty of income for the council.

“We also need to reduce demand for services and one way to do that is to attract good jobs; the more people in good jobs, the less demand there is for adult social, children’s services and things like council tax support.”

Savings of £8.3million have been identified for next year – with heftier cuts earmarked for the following two years.

The Government has confirmed that the referendum threshold for increases in council tax will remain at 2 per cent next year, while authorities will also be able to charge an adult social care precept of up to 3 per cent.

Northumberland ratepayers will therefore face a 2 per cent general rise, but the care precept will be split over two years ‘to try to soften the impact’, meaning the overall bill will increase by 3.75 per cent next year and 3.25 per cent in 2022-23.

However, Coun. Sanderson said that the goal was not to ‘cut things for the sake of it’ and that listening to the public about what’s important to them is key to this process.

The Conservative administration at County Hall has also been buoyed by what’s been set out in the recent Spending Review.

The details of the settlement have not been set out, but the Government said that core spending power for local authorities is estimated to increase by 4.5 per cent in cash terms in 2021-22, alongside additional Covid funding, including for social care.

The council's capital spending plan, which is yet to be finalised, proposes major town regeneration projects including in Hexham.

And the leader of the authority, Glen Sanderson also hopes to form deals through the England and Scotland Borderlands scheme in smaller communities such as Bellingham.

The council has launched a budget consultation, which runs until Thursday, January 21, and people can go to www.haveyoursay.northumberland.gov.uk to give their views on a wide range of issues.

The budget and plan will be finalised before seeking approval in February 2021.