Medium Term Financial Strategy

The HBC portfolio holder for Finance, Cllr Joan Smith, outlined the HBC medium-term financial strategy at Cabinet on 6th February. This is the Council's plan for finances over the next three years and outlines the problems likely to be faced by Hyndburn Borough Council and how we plan to overcome them:

Medium Term Financial Strategy 2013

A more concise version of the Council's financial position is presented by Cllr Smith to Cabinet every month and this can be read here:

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2012-2013 - February 2013

HBC is to suffer an 8.8% cut in grant funding from central government, the highest percentage reduction in the country, but this translates as nearer to 16% overall when various other factors are taken into consideration.

The Labour group also inherited debts of over £12m from the Conservative group when they took control of the Council in 2011 (£9m in long-term debts and around £3m in short term debts) and have managed to reduce them by approximately £1m in 18 months. Although calls from the opposition are being made to spend the reserves, the Labour group are hoping to use part of any underspending to reduce the Council debts further and save thousands of pounds in interest payments each month.