Waste collections, streetlights and museum opening times under threat as council publishes plans to close budget gap

Cash-strapped Shropshire Council has published its latest plans to close an £11.8m budget gap in the next financial year.

The latest plans come after a review of the Government's funding settlement which was announced in December, which saw Shropshire handed the third-lowest funding increase out of more than 180 councils. 

The council is currently in the middle of a public consultation on their plans to make around £8.5m of new savings. 

The proposals include moving to three weekly general waste collections, reducing the opening hours of the museum and castle in Shrewsbury, switching off some streetlights for part of the time and changing park-and-ride bus services in Shrewsbury. 

£3.8m will be delivered through plans already agreed in 2024, including reducing the size of the council by removing around one in five jobs.

With the Government's funding, Shropshire Council's spending power will increase by 3.1 per cent in 2025/26 when compared to 2024/25, with the 4.99 per cent council tax increase the Government assumes councils will make. 

But the national average funding increase for councils is almost double Shropshire’s amount at 6 per cent, with urban authorities seeing the greatest increase. 

Shropshire Council has said that the outgoing impact of higher demand for council services - particularly for social care - and the increasing costs of services and supplies, "will outstrip the increase" proposed for the authority. 

The removal of a rural services delivery grant worth around £9m is a key pressure for Shropshire, as well as major reduction in social care funding - which the council has said effectively represents a ‘loss’ of £16m.   

A new homes bonus, market sustainability and improvement fund and different pots of homelessness funding were noted in the report to bring some benefit. 

On top of the new savings plans for next year, the council expects to end the year 2024/25 £37.3m over budget. But the balance requires Shropshire to use almost all of its £38.3m reserves fund to balance its budget, leaving just £1m in reserves.

Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for finance and corporate resources said: “In 2024/25, Shropshire Council is set to deliver £50m of savings, even more than the record £41m delivered in 2023/24, against a backdrop of the growing need for social care affecting councils all over the country. 

“However, a close assessment of the funding proposal from Government shows we will have more difficult decisions to make in 2025/26. 

“As a large rural county, Shropshire is faced with extra costs for waste collection and disposal, housing, social services, education, transport to school, road maintenance and leisure and library services.  When people are spread out over such a large area, it costs more to provide local services. 

“It is more important than ever that as many people in Shropshire as possible to have their say on our next steps.” 

Shropshire Council’s budget consultation is open until Sunday, January 26. It's available online at: shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/budget-consultation-202526