Budget 2025
Posted on 14th March 2025 at 09:30
Understanding the 2024/25 Budget: Investing in Our Community
Supporting the Community
Great Linford Parish Council plays a key role in managing local facilities and services. This includes looking after community centres, sports pitches, and allotments. The council also runs projects to tackle food poverty and social isolation, supporting residents through food hubs and community cafés. Additionally, it partners with Citizens Advice to offer free financial, housing, and legal advice.
Listening to Residents
Each year, the council asks residents about their priorities. The latest survey highlighted key concerns: litter, dog fouling, youth facilities, and the environment.
In response, the council has taken action:
- More and larger dog waste bins have been installed.
- Biodiversity projects introduced, including the Neath Hill Memorial Planting and beekeeping at the allotments.
- Nearly 40 tonnes of litter and green waste collected in 2024 through encroachment clearance and community litter picks.
Keeping Costs Low
Tess Phypers, the council’s Responsible Financial Officer, explains that costs rarely go down, and this year’s rise in Employer’s National Insurance meant the council had to find £21,000 in savings just to break even. Despite this challenge, the precept increase has been kept as low as possible at 5%. “It was a difficult decision, but necessary to maintain essential services,” she says. “We’ve had to dip into reserves this year, but that’s not a long-term solution.”
To save money, the council has taken several steps:
- Bringing work in-house – The Environment and Facilities Team has received training to handle maintenance tasks instead of outsourcing.
- Partnering with organisations – The Community Payback Team (CPT) provided over 2,800 hours of labour, saving the community around £250,000. Their work includes cleaning, painting, weeding, and maintaining public spaces, jobs that we don’t have a direct resource for and that MKCC cannot do.
- Supporting local groups – Youth services are delivered through partnerships with Pulse and YMCA, and financial support helps local groups run social spaces, events, and food hubs.
Budget Essentials
- More funding for youth services to meet demand and provide safe spaces.
- Extra support for social spaces, offering low-cost food, drink, and activities to reduce isolation.
- Better asset maintenance planning, leading to more efficient spending.
- Lower maintenance costs, thanks to earmarked reserves for key projects.
- Deep cleaning brought in-house, reducing external costs.
- Increased facility hire income, due to better promotion and use of venues.
- Staff contingency budget removed, saving £9,000 and part offsetting the rise in National Insurance costs, though this means there is no ability to cover staff absences.
What the Precept Increase Means
Cllr Martin Burgess, Chair of the Finance, Governance & Asset Committee, commented, “The 5% precept rise equals 45p per month for a band D property. Even with a £21,000 increase in National Insurance costs, the council has worked hard to cut unnecessary spending while ensuring essential services continue.
By prioritising what matters most to residents and making smart financial choices, Great Linford Parish Council remains committed to delivering quality services at an affordable cost.”
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