Durham County Council's deputy leader has promised a "laser-like focus" on cutting waste and removing "avoidable costs" as the authority looks to close an £83.7 million budget gap.
Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday (September 16), Councillor Darren Grimes said residents expected the council to spend money wisely while protecting frontline services.
He told councillors at the Salvus House meeting: "We'll keep a laser-like focus on reviewing contracts where we can, stripping out any waste and avoidable costs and ensuring we don't waste money on expensive gimmicks."
Cllr Grimes said many of the rising costs facing the council were beyond its control.
"The biggest cost drivers that we face as a council aren't optional extras, they're not add-ons, they're unavoidable cost pressures linked to national decisions that we must locally fund," he said.
The council is warning that it will need to find tens of millions of pounds over the next few years to balance its books as demand for services continues to rise.
Much of the pressure is coming from areas such as children's social care, home-to-school transport and staff pay.
If no action is taken, council forecasts show a funding gap of £23.3 million next year, rising to £83.7m over four years.
To help deal with the shortfall, officers have drawn up a list of possible savings.
These include changing the way some services are delivered, making greater use of technology and artificial intelligence, cutting back office costs, securing better-value contracts and finding efficiencies across council departments.
Some of the biggest savings are expected to come from long-term transformation projects designed to make services cheaper to run.
However, Cllr Grimes said those plans would take time to deliver.
"Transformation is no silver bullet and requires a total rewiring of our services, doing things very differently and leaning into a digital solution and artificial intelligence," he said.
Read more
Reform UK urged to explain £90m County Durham spending changes ahead of budget
Reform UK majority at Durham County Council cut to three after triple resignation
Former Reform councillor claims concerns over 'safeguarding issue' went ignored
The report also highlights the impact of staff pay awards, with the council estimating that a 3.5 per cent pay rise next year would add around £10.8m to its costs.
Cllr Grimes called for more funding from central government, arguing councils were being left to cope with rising demand for services without receiving enough financial support.
He said the authority would not "shirk away" from the difficult decisions needed to set a balanced budget, which will be laid out in February next year.
Share