Find out where we get our money from and what we will spend it on.
Every year we set a revenue and capital budget which explains what we plan to spend in the year. You can visit our financial statements and strategies page to find out more.
The information below is a summary of what is contained in our budget, to help explain where our money comes from and how much is spent on services.
Where our money comes from
The share of council tax that we receive makes up just 18% of our total income. We get our money to pay for our services from a number of different sources.
|
Income |
Amount |
Percentage |
|
Council tax |
£ 8,069,000 |
18% |
|
Business rates and government funding |
£ 6,639,000 |
15% |
|
Grants |
£ 1,788,000 |
4% |
|
Commercial investments |
£ 11,218,000 |
25% |
|
Interest on investments |
£ 1,401,000 |
3% |
|
Other income including fees and charges |
£ 10,276,000 |
23% |
|
Use of reserve / delivery of savings |
£ 5,205,000 |
12% |
Budget gap
We are facing a budget gap of £5.2m in 2025/26. This is the difference between what we spend and the amount of money we receive.
In February we decided to bridge this budget gap by:
- Using £3.4m of our reserves
- Reducing our overall budget by £1.8m
We will continue with our Financial Recovery Plan and our savings delivery projects, which together in 2024/25 saved us £0.8m. We anticipate that we will find further savings this year, through a senior management restructure and service review.
We will continue to need budget savings in future years to provide a sustainable financial position for the council in the long term.
How we spend our budget
The money we receive goes to pay for more than 100 key local services, including recycling and bin collections, street cleaning, parks, play areas and leisure facilities, planning, housing, our crematorium and cemeteries, environmental health, and community safety.
Our revenue budget pays for the day-to-day running of the council and our services.
We also use our budget to support the delivery of our priorities.
| Portfolio expenditure | Approximate amount | Examples of what is paid for in this portfolio |
|---|---|---|
| Economy, Skills and Regeneration | £6,086,000 | Town centres, events, working with business, improving skills, infrastructure projects |
| Housing and Planning | £3,876,000 | Homelessness, housing options and planning |
| Healthy Communities and Active Lives | £3,845,000 | Leisure facilities, community development and democracy |
| Pride in Place/Neighbourhood Services | £11,458,000 | Bin collections, street cleaning, environmental health, parks and playgrounds |
| Finance and Resources | £5,925,000 | Revenue and benefits, IT, financial services |
| Policy, Performance and Sustainability | £2,264,000 | Transformation projects, legal services, climate change |
| Corporate items | £4,291,000 | Including accounting processes, such as our minimum revenue position |
| Interest payments on borrowing | £6,852,000 |
Please visit our about the portfolios page for more information.
Our capital spending
As well as our day-to-day revenue budget spend, we also have a longer-term capital programme for regeneration, developments and improvements.
These are the items we have planned for capital spending over the next three years.
| Capital budget items | 2025/26 Budget | 2026/27 Budget | 2027/28 Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Union Yard - commercial units fit out, lease contributions and other costs |
£1,250,000 |
|
|
|
Leisure centre |
£77,000 |
|
|
|
Southwood Country Park improvements |
£300,000 |
|
|
|
Crematorium |
£751,000 |
|
|
|
Temporary housing |
£742,000 |
|
|
|
The Galleries (Housing Infrastructure Fund) |
£3,400,000 |
|
|
|
Wheelie bins and food waste caddies |
£127,000 |
£127,000 |
£127,000 |
|
Disabled facility grants for home improvements |
£1,110,000 |
£1,111,000 |
£1,111,000 |
|
Provision for asset management expenditure |
£800,000 |
£800,000 |
£800,000 |
|
IT upgrades and services |
£450,123 |
£156,200 |
|
|
Section 106 projects (for example, playground improvements) |
£127,184 |
|
|
|
Provision for potential service review costs |
£1,000,000 |
|
|
|
Total Programme |
£10,135,327 |
£2,194,200 |
£2,038,000 |
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