Council with budget gap says tax rise on the cards

A local authority has said it could increase council tax because of a £2.6m budget shortfall that is projected for the next financial year.

Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire has launched a consultation on its draft budget proposals for 2025-26.

The council's leader said the budget shortfall was down to increased demand for services, increased costs and lower than expected funding from central government.

The local authority has not raised its portion of council tax for six years and even cut it by 2% last financial year.

However, residents still had to pay more council tax overall, because of money that is paid to the county council, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, the fire service, police and parish councils.

Fenland covers northern parts of the county including Wisbech, March and Whittlesey.

The draft budget does not yet include a council tax increase.

Leader of Fenland District Council, Conservative Chris Boden, said "raising council tax over the medium term to 2029-30 will be a last resort."

"However, like local authorities across the country, we are experiencing significant budget challenges due to less funding from central government, as well as increased costs and increased demand," he said.

"We are faced with having to make very difficult choices and not raising council tax is quite possibly not going to be realistic."

The council is looking at other ways to save money. Among those are moving its headquarters at Fenland Hall in March to nearby Hereward Hall, as part of a review of office space that could bring long-term savings.

The consultation for residents to have their say ends on 2 February.

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