Budget agreed

Northamptonshire County Council’s budget for 2012 / 13 was agreed at full council on 23rd February.

The council’s budget is part of a four-year framework which aims to save £100m between now and 2016 to help face the challenges of reduced government funding and increasing number of people to provide services for.

Leader of the council Councillor Jim Harker said: "We have agreed a budget that will help us to meet the considerable financial challenges we are facing. This isn’t a short-term fix; this is a four-year framework that ensures our limited resources are targeted in the right places.

"Underpinning this is the Local Deal – this is our promise to freeze council tax, to make further back-office savings and find new ways to work in partnership to help save money even further, to continue to support the county’s growth and prosperity and to provide services where people can’t help themselves.

"And in return, we need people to get more involved in the services we know they value and to take advantage of opportunities the council provides to help people help themselves.

"We already have many volunteers supporting our services and in the coming months we will be continuing to encourage people to come forward."

Cabinet member for finance, Councillor Bill Parker said: "This budget maintains our position as offering the lowest county council tax in the country while also ensuring that we continue to make savings from the back office with limited impact on frontline services. 

"This is our commitment to the Local Deal but we do need people to do their part too as only by working together can we face these challenges successfully."

What is The Local Deal? Part 1

Part 2

Our second video focuses on keeping council tax low and cutting costs.

Part 3

Our third video looks at the prosperity agenda.