'Not radical enough' Central Bedfordshire Council goes back to the drawing board after budget plan defeated
Central Bedfordshire Council is being forced to rethink its budget plans after it was voted down.
Opposition councillors on Central Bedfordshire Council have thrown out the Independent ruling administration’s revenue budget for 2026/27, forcing a further meeting to navigate a way forward next week.
There were 14 votes in favour, 34 against and four abstentions, following more than seven hours of debate last night (Thursday, February 26).
A reserve date is set in case changes are required to the budget calculations for the next financial year before a motion to full council can be approved.
The Independent group’s 2025/26 budget could have been sent back for reconsideration. But Conservative councillors abstained on that occasion 12 months ago, rather than voting against the proposals.
The local authority balanced its 2024/25 budget and expects to do the same in 2025/26, declared a report to the full council budget meeting. “Without recent government funding changes, the 2026/27 budget would also have been balanced.
“However, its new three-year local government settlement and the fair funding review have created major financial pressures. For Central Bedfordshire, the new funding model results in a £17m budget gap in 2026/27, rising to £28m in 2027/28 and £40m in 2028/29.
“These gaps remain despite reviewing assumptions on council tax, efficiencies and service pressures. To achieve long-term sustainability, the council will make a full review of services by assessing costs, performance and comparisons with similar councils.
“External experts will support this work. A full review and implementation will take time and require executive and full council approval, along with consultation and equality assessments.
“This will be a three-year process to adapt to the new funding regime. CBC may need to consider time-limited exceptional financial support in later years to manage the transition, although this isn’t currently proposed,” warned the report. “Since the draft budget published in December, several changes have been reflected.
“These include the reversal of the proposal to replenish reserves by £8.5m, a reduced interest figure by £1.3m because of the interest rate change and with further reductions expected, and an increase in the expectation for pension costs (£1.9m pressure).
“The review analysis will use techniques that compare the services Central Bedfordshire provides with other authorities that share similar characteristics, including geography, population density and demography, employment opportunities, educational attainment and deprivation. This should provide a good barometer for the scale of opportunity.
“A more fundamental review will take time to complete. Once opportunities for budget savings have been identified, an implementation plan will need to be developed.”
Conservative Heath and Reach councillor Mark Versallion posted on social media: “A seven-hour budget meeting has just finished and the Independent administration’s proposal was defeated.
“As there’s no budget, which is a legal requirement, councillors will be meeting again on Thursday (March 5) to try and reach an agreement. I and others made a number of amendments and speeches to persuade.
“But frankly the proposals weren’t radical enough, given the £17m cut the Labour government has made to CBC’s funding, to convince opposition councillors such as myself.”
The Central Bedfordshire Community Network Biggleswade West councillor Hayley Whitaker posted on Facebook: “The executive now has a week to revise its budget plans to make them more palatable for residents.”