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Clevedon, Nailsea, Portishead and Weston-super-Mare Town Councils are working with North Somerset Council on ways to manage a number of services including parks and open spaces and keeping our towns clean.
The first phase of work includes increased joint working on community safety, play areas and tackling litter.
This is part of North Somerset Council’s ambition to work more closely with Town and Parish Councils to ensure decisions are made by communities affected by them. It also means services are delivered locally where possible, are cost effective and valued services and facilities continue to be delivered.
Conversations have been taking place with Town and Parish Councils as part of a wider programme and this first phase with Town Councils has reached agreement. Progress is also being made in discussions with Parish Councils as the council continues to explore potential joint opportunities for working together.
Cllr Mike Bell, Leader of North Somerset Council said: “I am delighted that all our Town Councils are working with us to come up with joint solutions on how we can run some services differently in the future. We have been fully committed to working with communities who want to take control over local assets and services. This helps to ensure key services important to communities are still delivered to residents and with more local control over when and how.”
North Somerset Council is facing considerable financial challenges due to increasing demand and costs for services, particularly in children and adult services.
Councillors will hear during February’s Council meeting of a widening three-year budget gap, which now stands at just over £10million. Savings plans of over £44million need to be delivered across the next three years, with £20million next year alone.
Cllr Bell added: “The demand for and cost of providing services has increased significantly over the past decade and this has made the job for all councils much harder. I want to stress that any service run by a Town or Parish Council in future is paid for by residents within those communities and there is no situation where people will pay twice for the same services. We are having to make tough decisions to protect vital services as best we can and continue to deliver low cost, good quality services for our residents. I am grateful to all our Town Councils for the way they have engaged with us on our financial challenge and worked constructively to try to find solutions to support our communities in this first phase of work.
“This programme is not just about saving money but also about delivering services in a better way with communities having more influence over how things are done in their area. In the long term by working with town and parish councils we can build stronger communities and better services for us all across North Somerset.”
North Somerset Council is restricted by law as to how much it can put up its council tax in a given year - the current restrictions being 2.99 per cent for general spending (spread across all services) and a further two per cent ring-fenced for adult social care. Town and parish councils don’t have the same financial constraints.
North Somerset Council will continue to deliver its statutory duties.
For more information about North Somerset Council’s financial challenge, please visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/fairdeal.