Council’s highways and environment department £2m in the red

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A council’s highways and environment department is estimated to end the financial year with an overspend of more than £2m.

Denbighshire council’s cabinet will discuss a finance report tomorrow (Tuesday) at Ruthin County Hall, detailing the department’s outgoings.

The report confirms the council’s current financial position and the agreed service budgets for 2024/25, highlighting an overspend of £2.06m in the council’s highways and environment department alone.

The report lists “the increase costs of the waste service” and “winter maintenance” which have been offset by savings and additional income.

Recycling scheme

The overspend follows the “botched” launch of the council’s “Trolibocs” recycling scheme last June, which was beset with reports of missed collections, leading to rubbish piling up on Denbighshire ’s streets.

These problems led to Denbighshire’s leader Cllr Jason McLellan and chief executive Graham Boase apologising.

Ten months on, despite revised collection routes, residents continue to contact the local democracy reporting service with complaints of missed bin and recycling collections.

The report reads: “The current outturn prediction is £2.066m overspend (previously £1.564m). The overspend relates to increased costs for the waste service (£1.628m) and winter maintenance (£807K) offset by savings and additional income across the service (-£369K).

“The movement this month of £502K relate to increases to fleet costs in the waste service (£430K), winter maintenance (£237K), and variances across the service offset by additional income for streetworks (-£165k).

“There remains a high risk on this service during these winter months.”

Underspends

Whilst there have been significant underspends in some council departments, education and children’s service are predicting an overspend of £2.244m.

Denbighshire’s planning, public protection, and countryside department is predicting an overspend of £751K.

The council’s adult social care and homelessness department is reporting a likely underspend of £1.086m; other departments reporting an underspend included corporate budgets, with an underspend of £4.268m.

The report summarises: “The council faced a significant financial challenge in setting its 2024/25 budget due to our funding not increasing sufficiently to keep up with continued inflationary pressures, increased service demand, and complexity of needs for services.

“The council’s medium-term financial strategy forms the basis of approach to managing these risks.”

In setting its budget for 2024/25, the council required service savings and efficiencies of £10.384m, with a final report detailing figures due at April’s cabinet meeting.