Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) has approved its draft budget for public consultation.

But the council still needs to find another £6.2 million of savings and could hit taxpayers with a council tax hike in the new year to plug the gap.

Councillor Dale Birch, deputy leader at BFC, said: “We have really asked questions and really drilled down.

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“This has been subject to an even more rigorous examination than at any time since I’ve been a councillor.

“Yet again we came up with a valuable, sensible and properly focused budget.”

Bracknell Forest’s draft budget papers for the 2021/2022 financial year indicate the authority predicts it will spend £89.4 million from April 2021 to March 2022.

But as things stand, the council is only set to generate £83.2 million in income from council tax, business rates, grants and more in the same period.

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This means Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) needs to generate an extra £6.2 million in order to keep its day-to-day services running.

So far, BFC has come up with three ways it could plug the funding gap:

  • Increasing council tax by up to three per cent
  • Use council’s reserves
  • Use additional government grants should they be confirmed

A six-week consultation on the spending plans began today.

Cllr Birch added: “In all the years I’ve sat on the executive, we’ve always had a tough time with money. You could say that given the exceedingly tough times we are in now, that has set us in good stead for what we are facing.

“But our residents know and have come to enjoy the fact this Conservative-led administration has balanced the budget for over 20 years.

“This budget shows again will be delivering the level of service our residents demand from us and have come to expect.

“We will be working smarter to deliver those services.”

Bracknell Forest Council’s executive team approved the consultation on the draft budget plans at a meeting on Tuesday, December 15.

You can view the consultation here: https://consult.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/kse/

Residents can submit their views on the proposals for consideration by the executive before councillors from all parties vote on the final budget in late February next year.