Time is running out for people in Nottingham to have their say on plans which would see their council tax bill going up by the maximum amount allowed. Nottingham City Council revealed last month that it was planning to increase council tax by 5% and to cut 110 jobs within the authority to try and fill a financial hole of £32million for the next financial year, starting in April.
The new savings planned from April are so far worth £29m and they include reviewing fees and charges at car parks, leisure centres and museums, withdrawing the wheelchair hire service at the Victoria Centre and stopping the collection of household bins put out on the wrong day. Changes to adult social care are also being planned, including more independent living support instead of residential or nursing care, as well as the mothballing of two floors at the council's Loxley House headquarters.
The council had warned that a funding gap of £3.2m still existed for next year, although its outgoing finance chief recently said this could be "eliminated" by the Government's provisional funding offer for councils. Work on finding further savings was due to be taking place until a meeting of the authority's executive board in February.
