Extra £1M earmarked for flood-hit communities

The outlay is planned in County Hall’s new budget, which also earmarks around £100M more to support vulnerable children and adults and £12M extra to fix potholes and roads.

The four-year plan lays out the tough situation facing councils and shows that rapidly rising demand for services, and inflation, is driving up costs by £218Mm, compared to expected extra income and savings of £127M.

It’s planned to use reserves to manage a small budget gap next year – but by 2027, this gap is forecast to increase to £38M and rise to £91M by 2029.

Flooding is seen as a priority by the county council after 700 local properties and were flooded by at the start of this year.

The extra cash for flooding, which comes from the council’s service investment fund designed to respond to immediate priorities, would be used to undertake more investigations, designed to pinpoint the causes of flooding and identify any potential solutions, and to fund drainage repairs.

Another half-a-million-pounds will also be spent by April to clear drains of flood debris and fix immediate damage.

Councillor Deborah Taylor, acting leader of Leicestershire County Council, said: “Our focus has to be managing what’s in our gift and remaining financially resilient.

"We’re investing big sums of money in supporting vulnerable people, directing as much as we can into services we know our residents value, such as mending pot holes, and supporting flood-hit communities.

“Flooding is heart-breaking for our residents and businesses, with many counting the costs for the second or third time in just a year.

"So it’s only right that we help them to recover and invest in bolstering communities’ resilience.

"But we need government to grip the issue.

"We’ve written to the flooding minister calling to overhaul the national approach and we need action.”

The cabinet will consider the updated proposals on Friday February 7 before the budget is agreed at a full county council meeting on February 19.

The council’s yearly budget totals £616M – the authority is one of the biggest organisations in the county, spending around £10M every week on crucial services for Leicestershire residents.

The budget also includes a proposed rise of 4.99 per cent in the county council’s share of Council Tax bills.

The authority say this would generate an extra £20M but that would be used to cover only the National Living Wage and National Insurance rises before any increased service demand is taken into account

Councillor Lee Breckon, cabinet member for resources, said: “No one wants to increase Council Tax but without it, we’d have to make £20m more savings next year, and consultation feedback showed good support for our proposals.”

The budget also includes £33M of savings, including redesigning services, reducing the cost of back-office support services by maximising digital technology and smarter procurement, plus £52M to bring spend on special educational needs more in line with government funding

A £380M four-year capital pot is also proposed to fund, for example, social care accommodation and new school places needed to support new housing.