Derbyshire news bulletin, November 17
Here's today's news bulletin from the Derbyshire Times, as drastic measures have seen the county council cut its crippling £46 million budget black hole to £33 million - but it faces further “difficult” decisions if it is to close the gap.
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00:00 Here's today's Derbyshire Times video bulletin.
00:04 A Derbyshire council has taken drastic measures to cut its crippling £46 million budget black
00:09 hole to £33 million, but it faces further difficult decisions if it is to close the
00:14 gap further.
00:16 In September, Derbyshire County Council detailed that it was on track to overspend on this
00:20 year's budget by £46 million come May next year, without enough rainy day reserves to
00:25 plug the gap.
00:27 It announced many of the most drastic measures a local council can legally take in order
00:31 to cut costs, with all non-existing spending frozen and a comprehensive hiring freeze apart
00:37 from in some areas.
00:38 Alongside this, a review of agency staff resulting in job losses has taken place, and all projects
00:44 have been assessed to see which could be paused or deferred to cut costs.
00:48 Now the council has detailed that this has all resulted in cutting the black hole by
00:52 a third, with £33 million more in cutbacks to find, even after taking such significant
00:57 action.
00:59 The council details that all work has been paused on the Chesterfield to Staveley regeneration
01:03 route project, the county's most expensive infrastructure stream, which increased in
01:08 price from £130 million to £166 million last December.
01:13 Meanwhile the authority has also paused or reduced all work related to cutting its carbon
01:17 footprint, having committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2032.
01:22 The new report, while showing that the black hole is down from £46 million to £33 million,
01:28 says this has been achieved through using reserves which the council made clear it does
01:31 not have enough left to plug the remaining shortfall.
01:37 Midland Lead, which supplies construction firms across the world with building products
01:41 made from recycled lead, was crowned the Derbyshire Businesses of the Year by East Midlands Chamber.
01:47 A family run company, which produces more than 15,000 tonnes of lead per year, also
01:52 won the Commitment to People Development category at the Derbyshire Business Awards.
01:57 The awards recognised East Midlands Chamber members across 13 categories, ranging from
02:02 Excellence in Innovation and Environment Impact through to individual honours for Entrepreneur
02:06 of the Year, Apprentice of the Year, as well as the overall Business of the Year winner.
02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]