Norfolk Council Member Budgets Abolished

The budget which county councillors receive to spend in their areas on small highways items, environmental projects, and community initiatives has been scrapped by the new Reform administration. 

This is supposedly a cut to save on the overall spending for Norfolk County Council this year, but with the fund in question totalling less than £1m in an overall highways budget of £57m, its loss will merely be a drop in the ocean in terms of the deficit. But the loss to local communities in Norfolk could be very large indeed. Local councillors and community groups are often the best people situated to make judgements on the sort of improvements an area needs most, rather than civil servants at County Hall. Your Focus team have on several occasions in the past been able to use this budget to make positive changes in south Norwich, and we worry that a more centralised system will crowd out community voice. 

For example, the fund has allowed Eaton’s county councillor, Brian Watkins, to spend money on purchasing a SAM sign which has been used to monitor speed levels at various locations in Eaton Village during the past three years.  

Hear what Cllr Watkins had to say about the abolition on social media.