RBWM feeling 'more confident' about finances after making some changes

The Royal Borough’s finances are looking more hopeful than previously forecast – with new approaches to debt management and spending and borrowing ‘already making a difference’.

Last month, the council said ‘urgent’ action needed to be taken to resolve its ‘serious’ financial position.

The Borough’s cabinet was told the local authority currently has debts of £203million and a forecast overspend of £7.3million for the 2023/24 financial year.

There were warnings that the Borough was in danger of facing a section 114 notice, which bans all non-essential spending. In response, the new Lib Dem/Independent administration blasted the Tories for ‘reckless’ borrowing and spending ‘without having a guaranteed income to pay down the debt’.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday night, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, Councillor Lynne Jones, said that ‘good progress is being made.’

A spending control/review panel has been set up ‘to bring down unnecessary spending.’

成人社会关怀债务是“朝着正确的direction’ – the authority is ‘invoicing sooner and collecting debts sooner’, recovering new debt as well as old debt to prevent it from building up.

Cllr Jones said that all capital schemes (larger, more long-term projects) are under review, to ‘remove the financial burden of additional borrowing costs’, where possible.

“Twenty million borrowed and repaid over 20 years at current rates is an additional revenue cost of £1.5million a year,” said Cllr Jones.

There are still significant problems – the council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) shows more than £2million worth of saving that ‘appear not to be achievable.’

On the flipside, there have been some improvements in parking income, the council heard – Cllr Geoff Hill, cabinet member for parking, said the borough is £532,000 up on last year.

Work has been going on to ‘enthuse’ people to use car parks in Windsor and Maidenhead, especially given people’s frustration after the closed-down Broadway car park and its impact on shopping.

Vicus Way car park has been ‘heavily advertised’ because its use is ‘terribly low’, said Cllr Hill.

But as a result of these efforts, the Borough has had 500 hundred more people park there as a result, he said.

A scheme of ‘£10 for the weekend’ at Vicus Way (see p2) had five takers – which while not high, is hoped to get the word around.

“We’ll run the campaign again next year in January-February, take a break, run it again and keep running it throughout the next year,” said Cllr Hill.

“It will build momentum. If you show people it’s out there, they do use it.”

Use of Hines Meadow, Stafferton Way and surface car parks throughout the Borough is also up.

Additionally, there has been a ‘big uptake’ via Ringo of a discount scheme offering residents one hour of free parking, pulling people in.

On the finances in general, Cllr Jones said early indications are promising.

“I’m becoming increasingly more confident than I was two months ago,” she said.