Our submission to the 2018/19 budget consultation built on our earlier submissions to the Council's three-year budget consultations in 2012/13 and 2016/17. All three responses are available below.
The theme of the 2016 response was Taking Back Control. Government needs to devolve more funding and powers to local authorities, and the Council needs to devolve to its neighbourhoods. The Council's budget proposals promise more of the same - more investment in the city centre to attract new businesses, and "to grow as both the regional capital and as one of the great cities of the north." But more of the same has delivered cuts to the services that residents use on a daily basis, deeper dependence on big businesses, and increasing disillusion with the Council's ability to deliver local services. We need an alternative, one that allows our communities to take back control of the city's finances.
- Full Text of January 2018 submission
- Full Text of December 2016 submission
- Full Text of January 2013 submission
