Council set to debate central Government funding reductions

West Berkshire Council will debate a motion next week which seeks to highlight the reduction in its funding from central Government.

The motion follows confirmation last month of West Berkshire Council's funding over the next three years. It leaves the Council among the hardest hit in the country with one of the lowest increases in funding nationally - just over a third of the average increase for councils.

It means that the Council will have less money to spend - even if the Council Tax paid by residents increases by the maximum amount of 4.99% each year. The Council will receive at least £28m less from central Government over the next three years - continuing a trend of year-on-year reductions. It also comes at a time when an increasing share of business rates collected by the Council are redistributed to other parts of the country rather than being kept in the district.

The Motion looks to ask the Leader of West Berkshire Council, Councillor Jeff Brooks, to write to local MPs Lee Dillon and Olivia Bailey to highlight this issue and ask for their support in raising it with decision-makers in Westminster. It also asks that he write directly to the Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to highlight the very difficult situation that the settlement means for the Council. 

Councillor Iain Cottingham, Executive Member for Finance, said:

"This funding agreement is a poor one for our Council and our communities. It fails to keep pace with the increase in demand we are seeing for our services or our costs for delivering these. We feel strongly that we should be standing up for our residents and making our case to Government of the very real damage spending reductions have, and we hope that our MPs and several of our Berkshire authorities will join us in doing so."

The Extraordinary Council meeting is open to the public to attend in person or follow on West Berkshire Council's YouTube channel. It begins at 7.00pm with the motion and other meeting details available to read on our website.

Final preparations for the Council's budget for 2026/27 are being made and are set to be published in early February for approval at Council on Thursday 26 February.