Thank you to everyone who took part in our consultation earlier this year on our medium-term plan, for 2019-20 to 2021-22. More than 3,500 people took part in a 12-week long consultation, and we received 716 individual pieces of feedback. In all, 334 people completed the council’s online budget simulator - the People’s Budget - with 87 trying but giving up. 

With no change to our long-term financial position, we will continue to press ahead with a series of difficult decisions to set a balanced budget but will support some new projects funded by one-off additional money. The £1.6m is a result of a better than expected allocation from the New Homes Bonus (£0.2m) and increased income from business rates (£1.4m). We propose to: 

• Launch a city-wide behaviour change campaign to tackle littering and fly-tipping
• Engage with residents and businesses to improve recycling by tackling contamination (the wrong thing being put in the wrong bin)
• Respond to environmental issues in wards
• Test models of support for families with complex needs
• Help children with social care needs earlier
• Test a new model for welfare rights advice
• Improve access to the garden of the Welford Centre for people with autism
• Promote Newcastle as a dementia-friendly city with an awareness campaign
• Place defibrillators around the city
• Explore setting up a council-led lettings and property management service
• Explore new ways of encouraging people to register to vote

The papers from the Council meeting when the budget was agreed are here: 6 March 2019.

You can find the final, post-consultation proposals here: Post Budget Consultation Proposals

If you have questions about this, please contact us at: letstalk@newcastle.gov.uk. Thank you for giving us your views.