Luton Borough Council to make £4m further cuts to services

The council previously passed an emergency budget of £22m cuts on July 14 this year, following a "devastating" loss of commercial income from Luton Airport due to the coronavius pandemic.

A council spokesman said: "Further difficult decisions will still need to be made over the next few months as the council seeks to find another £4m in savings to balance the budget for 2021/22.

"It is yet unclear what the effect the economic downturn will have on business rates and council tax – two other crucial streams of revenue that the council needs to pay for public services."

The council will be drawing up a revised budget next month and is focused on planning for the aftermath of the pandemic.

Cllr Andy Malcolm, portfolio holder for finance, said: “There is no escaping the fact that we will be continue to deal with the financial impact of the pandemic these challenge for some time to come and we will continue to face very difficult decisions.

"We will continue to work extremely hard to meet this challenge and to ensure that we minimise the impact on our services and our residents.

“We are yet to witness and experience the full economic impact but very regrettably we know that businesses and jobs will be lost.

"With the devastating effect of the pandemic on the airport’s finances, there will be some really difficult decisions to be made and times ahead continue to look incredibly tough.

“However we know that the people of Luton are both determined and resilient, as they have shown throughout this public health emergency. We are equally focussed on ensuring that we recover as a town and will continue to invest our efforts wholeheartedly in serving the public and maintaining a stable financial foundation upon which we can build as we emerge from this pandemic.”

Council chief executive Robin Porter added: “We are confident that the council has dealt with the crisis as well as we could, and we are in a better position than a lot of councils across the country.

“We were the first local authority to push through an emergency budget, and while that involved taking some tough decisions earlier in the year it is the reason why we are not in the perilous financial situation now being experienced by other councils.

“More difficult choices will need to be made but I feel sure that with the support and dedication of everyone in Luton Council we will emerge on the other side of this in a position to continue to serve the people of our town..”