Budget Consultation 2010

Overview

As in previous years, the Council consulted residents in the borough to inform the budget setting process for the next financial year and to seek views on service delivery in Richmond upon Thames.  The consultation was also used to explore resident's views on how the Council has already begun to respond to the current economic challenges and how, going forward, it can best continue to tackle these issues.

The consultation took place in the form of an evening workshop, including a series of scheduled break out discussions, briefings from Finance leads at the Council and some question and answer time.  A representative sample of the borough population were consulted, with approximately 40 residents recruited on the street in town centres across the borough to take part.

What happens next

There was a recognition that the Council faces a difficult financial climate and will need to make savings. Throughout the course of the evening people identified service areas which they felt should be protected as much as possible and put forward ideas for saving or raising money for the Council.

When discussing different ways of delivering services, participants identified a broad range of service areas where they felt local residents could take more of a role in delivering non-critical services. These included looking after the local environment, delivering cultural services and providing support for older people.

The findings are available in the below summary and report.

What has happened as a result?

The report has been circulated to Councillors and submitted to Overview & Scrutiny and Cabinet meetings in September and October 2010, where leading Councillors considered the findings alongside reports from the Director of Finance & Corporate Services on the financial situation in Richmond upon Thames and next year's budget.

A two page summary of the findings has been sent directly to workshop participants and both the report and summary have been published on the Council's website.

The findings on how people would like to get more involved in their local area and influence decision making will be taken forward by the Community Engagement Team and fed back to the organisation.