How would you cut millions from Shropshire Council’s budget?
Shropshire Council has to find savings of £23 million in next year’s budget, in addition to the £51 million savings made this year. This is likely to affect non statutory services such as libraries and leisure centres.
Shropshire Council is asking residents to tell them where they should make savings. The survey is lengthy and asks people to prioritise different local authority services. We have written some Hints and Tips below which we hope you will find helpful.
We encourage residents to complete the survey. We also recognise that your priorities might reflect your own personal experiences of needing these services for either yourself or your loved ones.
Hints & Tips
Print or online – You might find it easier to print the survey and decide how you want to fill it in before entering online. You can download a print version of the survey at the bottom of this web page. Printed versions of the survey are available at the library and completed paper surveys can be submitted there.
Video – The 2 minute video in which Lezley Picton, Leader of Shropshire Council, explains how money is currently spent is well worth watching to give some context to the survey.
Statutory and non statutory services – Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care and Housing Services are statutory services, meaning local authorities have to provide them by law for those who need them. Most savings will come from other services. Local authorities have to provide a library service as it is a statutory service. However, they can make savings by closing some libraries and/or reducing opening times.
Outdoor spaces – Where this is mentioned, it does not refer to outdoor spaces in Church Stretton. Rectory Wood, Coppice Leasowes, Sandford Avenue Town Park, the two recreation fields, the cemeteries, allotments and the war memorials are all funded by Church Stretton Town Council and not Shropshire Council.
Prioritisation and suggested options – These two sections include questions asking you to prioritise different services, including leisure and library services. Please make sure you answer these two questions.
Other questions
If you struggle to answer some of the other questions as you do not think you have sufficient information, you can always flag these as ‘neither agree or disagree’ and add a comment to that effect.
Leisure or library service? – Some residents might struggle to prioritise one of these services above the other, as they are both important to Church Stretton. Putting one close to the other in the prioritisation is the best you can do.
We encourage people to complete the survey as it is important that the views of residents from this area are heard. Please remember to include Church Stretton as your nearest town at the end of the survey.
Links to the online consultation and print version of the survey can be found at Budget consultation 2024/25 | Shropshire Council
A printed copy of this web page can be downloaded here
The consultation runs until 28th January 2024.
